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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23957953">Love Despite</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachraindrops/pseuds/peachraindrops'>peachraindrops</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Girls (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Angst, Developing Relationship, Dirty Talk, Emotional Baggage, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Family, Flashback, Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots, Rio POV, Romance, Sex, Slow Burn, Smut, Teasing, Vaginal Sex</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:33:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>33,664</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23957953</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachraindrops/pseuds/peachraindrops</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: Beth and Rio...and a baby?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beth Boland/Rio</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>180</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>480</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Way It Is</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>AU. Beth and Rio are the same age, in their early twenties. Rio is still a crime boss and Beth has been dealt a different hand than she had in the show. What happens when their two worlds align? </p><p>I’ve changed some minor details but not enough for it to be annoying I hope. Just enough so I can write out this idea I’ve had in my head for awhile now. I have ten chapters done right now so it will be at least ten chapters long. </p><p>I do not own anything related to the rights of Good Girls, I just love it! All mistakes are my own and I don't have a beta, but if anyone is interested I'd love some help with upcoming chapters so just message me. Ratings may change if I decide to amp it up a little at certain points, let me know if you want that or not or just what you think in general. Hope you enjoy it!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Making a budget seemed pointless on nine dollars an hour but she had to try. Even after axing her cell phone, selling her car in exchange for a monthly bus pass and vowing to live off of ramen and lean cuisines she still couldn’t make it work. Dean had really screwed her this time, not that she was surprised.</p><p>The house was dark, lit only by the faint glow of a small table lamp and the blinking of the wrong time on her microwave. The gleam of freshly packed white snow shined through window edges. At least she got the power back on, she could at least live like this. The frigid Michigan weather in November had been going in full force and the little radiator in her one bedroom apartment struggled to keep up with the climate. It was going to be a long winter but nothing she hadn’t been through before. </p><p>Feeling frustrated with her budget, or lack of funding for a budget set her on edge. Maybe clipping a few coupons would make her feel better. After all tomorrow being Sunday she knew they’d be doubled at Fine &amp; Frugal. Since she had a shift tomorrow she could get a few necessities to take home with her and try to hide out through the projected blizzard coming through the Detroit-metro area early next week. </p><p>A coupon for forty cents off milk caught her eye and she patted around the table for her pair of scissors knowing she’d use that one. Another off baby food, she couldn’t clip that one fast enough. Jane had just started trying baby food but was still nursing for the most part and Beth was going to try and keep it that way as long as possible. At least that she knew she could afford. </p><p>“Beth, open up. I’m freezing my tits off out here!” A familiar voice rang from the hallway on the other side of her nearly stripped raw of paint creaky door. The rambunctious pounding started again before she made it fully over to the door<br/>
.<br/>
“Annie!” She screeched, quickly double checking the peep hole, mostly out of sheer habit. It was her sister and a thoroughly annoyed looking Ruby. “Do you always have to be so crass?” </p><p>Her eyes nearly fell into the back of her head, something that had been a natural occurrence any time Beth provided the smallest amount of parenting. Ruby shook her head at the younger sister too.</p><p>“Actually, I do. Otherwise how would you know it was me?” </p><p>Now it was Beth’s turn, except Ruby quickly interjected. “Damn, why’s it so cold in here?” She quickly picked up the jacket again she’d just shed onto the couch behind her and pulled it back over her shoulders. Annie blew smoke bubbled out into the air with her cold breath.</p><p>This was only their second and third time visiting Beth in her new apartment and it left something to be desired. Or really it left everything to be desired. </p><p>“They don’t turn it up any more than this! You know I don’t have control of the heat.” Beth sighs heavily and pulls on an extra layer herself. “And even if I did, it’s not like I could afford it.”</p><p>Ruby groaned knowingly, being caught up in similar financial woes herself. She was a new Mom and her daughter was on dialysis at just three years old. There weren’t enough shifts at the diner or the mall and those ends had stopped meeting a while ago. She pulled an exhausted looking Beth into her arms, embracing her tightly. Something boxy sticking out of the top of Ruby’s bag caught everyone’s attention. </p><p>“Yo! Is that what I think it is?” Annie gleamed, bouncing up onto her tip toes and peaking into the bag on her friend's shoulder. She twirled into Beth’s kitchen to pull out a couple of coffee mugs. </p><p>Smiles gleamed all around when she pulled the nearly full box of Franzia out of her bag and plopped it onto Beth’s coupon covered table. They all quickly filled their cups and Beth decided it was another time she was willing to look past Annie’s age and let her join them. She knew she’d do it with or without her, and if Annie already had a child of her own then a glass of cheap wine was the least of her worries. </p><p>Ruby grins. “Stole it from Stan’s mom. I don’t even think that woman knew she had it.” </p><p>They cheersed but they weren’t sure what exactly to. Maybe just to be in this life together and knowing they’d always have a ride or die no matter what else happened around them.</p><p>“How was the drive over?” Beth asked, nodding toward the other two unstable chairs tucked underneath her kitchen table. The girls pulled them out and moved the old stack of newspapers to the floor next to them.</p><p>Ruby shrugged. “Not bad. I don’t love this area you’re in right now though. You feel safe here?”</p><p>Annie popped in, “Ruby you know the more pawn shops and checking cashing places in the vicinity, the safer you are. Isn’t that the cardinal rule?”</p><p>She didn’t really have an answer for that. It wasn’t ideal for her, and it certainly wasn’t the safest area but it was the only place she could even semi-afford as a single mom on a small income. Plus, her door did have a padlock on it which eased her mind a bit.</p><p>“I don’t hate it. I can deal.” she shrugged and took a hearty sip of the wine. She preferred bourbon, even cheap bourbon. This was definitely cheap wine though and no doubt had a bite to it but she wasn’t in the position to complain. She’d probably just feel it a little more in the morning, that’s all.</p><p>The other two girls let it go, knowing it was a battle they weren’t going to win because they’d tried like hell to keep her from moving into the apartment when she originally did it. No way living in a run down apartment above a pawn shop could go wrong, that’s for sure. But that was when Beth was eight months pregnant, ready to literally pop, and completely alone with nowhere to go.  </p><p>“I still can’t believe that douche bag left you and took off with that hussy from his dad’s shop. If I ever see him again it’ll be too soon.” Annie promised, literally hating the man she had once been forced to call a brother-in-law. She didn’t even have time to go into the eight months pregnant portion. “I’d like to dig his eyes out with spoons and chop his dick off to make wood chips.”</p><p>Beth didn’t disagree but she was trying to move on. “I heard Amber got a few commercials out there. Who knew.” </p><p>Annie gagged. “Ew, my guess is on porn. And you know we don’t speak that name in this house. Unless we’re sanctioning the devil with it. Got it?”</p><p>Both of the other women grinned, they didn’t disagree with that either. Dean leaving Beth while she was eight months pregnant after admitting to cheating on her their entire relationship was certainly their rock bottom she’d say. Not that Beth ever really loved him anyway, but she did love the idea of him and it turns out she had the wrong idea all along anyway. </p><p>“Copy that.” Beth laughed and mocked an aye-aye sign as sternly as possible. She was thoroughly enjoying her girls being there with her. She always had Jane but it’s not like a six month old baby did a lot of talking back or interactive listening.</p><p>“How’s my little niece doing anyway? She asleep?” Annie asked, finally doing a general scan for her second favorite little girl. Somehow they ended up getting pregnant at the same time, albeit Beth was married and Annie was a sophomore in high school. </p><p>Beth nodded back and gestured toward her back bedroom. It wasn’t a large place, they shared a room and her crib took up the majority of it. There was a small bathroom, linen closet and a kitchen with nearly an entire twelve inches of counter space. Her house foreclosed during the divorce when she realized not only was Dean cheating on her but he also had neglected to pay the mortgage for months on end. She still didn’t know where that money went and at this point it didn’t seem necessary to ask. </p><p>“Yeah, she’s still reverse cycling.” She nearly cried. It was slowly killing her. </p><p>“How’s it going over at Greg’s?” Beth asked her little sister, who she was realizing wasn’t so little anymore anyway. “How’s Sadie?”</p><p>Annie smiled and it actually didn’t look forced either. The thing about Annie, Beth knew, is that she never really dreamed big and preferred to live a simpler life. Beth had always guessed it was because they’d seen so much failure and she never wanted a part of that. She used to pity that about her, maybe it was the way they were forced to grow up or maybe it was just the way she’d always been but Annie was always just so complacent being stuck. </p><p>“Sadie’s perfect. They’re good. His parents are actually really cool, you know? They give us a lot of space and they help with Sadie like all the time.” </p><p>Of course her sister had the perfect baby. Sadie had never even cried around her and she couldn’t think of a moment when Jane wasn’t crying. She just hoped it was a phase. </p><p>Annie shrugged and smiled. Beth had been trying to talk her into finishing high school or at least starting some sort of GED program but she could never get that conversation actually started without a fight so she learned to let it go. If there was anything she knew about Annie it was that Annie was going to do what she wanted to do, regardless of what input Beth, Ruby or anyone else wanted to give. </p><p>“Yeah, well Stan’s killing himself trying to pay for all this dialysis for Sarah. Told me this morning if he couldn’t pick up any more shifts this week he’d probably have to rob a bank.” She joked, mostly because it was that or they might all start crying. </p><p>There was an easy lull in the conversation after that for a few seconds while the depths of their despair sank in. </p><p>“Unless we did rob a bank.” Annie questioned and slowly looked up, eyes darting back and forth between the two girls. </p><p>“Annie, are you crazy? We can’t rob a bank! We’ll go to prison!” Shrilly flew out of Beth’s mouth, eyes as wide as quarters.</p><p>Annie smirked, “You may go to prison. But I’m a minor. I’d probably get a few months in juvie and be on my way.”</p><p>“It was a joke, Annie. Pull yourself together.” Ruby laughed and took another sip of wine. She shook her head, seemingly more unconvincingly. “Besides, I’m not convinced you don’t have priors we don’t know about.” </p><p>Now it was Annie’s turn to glare back at Ruby. Sure she’s had her fair share of trouble that’s followed her around, but she didn’t have priors. Yet.  </p><p>Another uncomfortable lull in conversation told Ruby she wouldn’t like what came next. </p><p>“Unless we don’t rob a bank, but instead we rob Fine &amp; Frugal. You know they have that safe in the back and hardly any security.” Beth thought out loud. Her words trailed off toward the end as if they weren’t exactly ready for the other two girls to hear yet. She was playing with the coupons laid out before her and her sad drawn up budget sitting in front of her, lightly doodling in the margins.</p><p>“What, no!” Ruby gasped. “We don’t know the first thing about committing a robbery!”</p><p>She tossed her pen aside. “Well we can learn, right? We just have to know enough not to get caught.” More silence filled her tiny apartment.She’d seen it enough in her six months there to know the drill.</p><p>“You know as many times as Fine &amp; Frugal’s been held up they still don’t have any kind of real security. We’ve been asking for panic buttons for months. Our idiot manager will never spend the money on them. He’s told us as much.” He had really told her that. He’d told her and the other floor workers that grocers get robbed sometimes and that’s just the way it was. If they didn’t like it they could leave. Her life meant nothing to him so why should it matter to her? She didn’t owe him anything. </p><p>Ruby side-eyed her. “Is it even worth it? That safe can’t be that stacked.”</p><p>Beth shrugged. “I’d guess at least thirty grand. I’ve heard Boomer talking to the police before when they’ve asked.”</p><p>Annie perked up, “Thirty g’s? Really? So 10k each?”</p><p>Ruby side-eyed Annie this time. “Yeah genius, that’s exactly what a third of 30k is. Maybe you really should enroll back into school.”</p><p>The two girls stared at each other, waiting for one of them to break their normal banter back and forth. Beth broke the silence first again. “We can be in and out in less than ten minutes. No one will have any idea.”</p><p>They thought about it, pondered all the ways it could go wrong and ended up with a bigger list of all the ways it could go right. It wasn’t like it was a bank, it wasn’t like they were going to go on a crime streak. It was just enough to pull their heads back above water and catch their breath.</p><p>That’s how three days later they ended up wearing homemade masks and yelling for all the customers to get on the ground because they were committing a robbery. The whole thing really did take them less than ten minutes and they left without incident with all of the stolen money in a reusable shopping bag from the register closest to the door. </p><p>Somehow they found themselves sitting back around the same kitchen table, counting cash and shaking heads. They just did it. They actually committed a robbery.</p><p>“How much is there?” Beth asked the girls who were finishing off counting their stacks which were all neatly placed and counted on top of her usual depressing paperwork and coupon stacks. </p><p>“I’ve got about fifteen thousand.” Ruby admitted, she couldn’t believe it. Annie grinned, unaffected by the whole ordeal. “Twenty. Twenty grand baby!” </p><p>Beth looked down and gave the cash on her side a fast second glance. “I have close to twenty too…” </p><p>The math of all that money nearly made Ruby stroke out. “Fifty five thousand dollars! You said thirty!” </p><p>Beth let out a nervous laugh, biting her lower lip and she rescanned it all for what felt like the hundredth time. “Well I didn’t know! It was just a guess. He never mentioned this much money ever!”</p><p>“How does the Fine &amp; Frugal even make this much money? My brain cannot comprehend it.” Ruby nearly laughed, finally accepting they made off with over fifty thousand dollars to share between them. </p><p>Beth shugged. There was no reasonable explanation for it in her mind. She assumed when she promised them thirty that she overshot.</p><p>“What do we do with it all? We can’t put it into the bank...can we?” Ruby pondered, surveying the cash again. </p><p> </p><p>“No, no we certainly cannot put this into the bank.” Beth agreed but didn’t appear to have a better solution. Annie’s was already spent in her mind so she had no reason to even think of a hiding place.</p><p>They finished off the box of wine from the other night while they stashed most of the cash around her apartment. They put it at the bottom of cereal boxes, taped it under counters, stuffed it in oven mitts and rolled it up into empty shampoo bottles until there was no trace of it left. It wasn’t permanent but it would do. “I think you should take your cut and do an anonymous donation to your GoFundMe for Sarah, that’s the only part of this cash that would make sense right now.” Beth speaks up and Annie agrees. They can wait for their cuts, even if they don’t want to. They just have to lay low until it blows over.</p><p>With the exception of a few hundred dollars for Beth and Annie and then Ruby’s cut for Sarah, the money stayed hidden until they thought of a better idea and it was business for them as usual.</p><p>Beth spent her night waking up for midnight feedings, working solely off the internal clock of a six month old and slaving away to her every want and need. It wasn’t that she minded, because she didn’t, and she was actually used to doing it on her own by this point but she still felt less human and more zombie by morning. Her daughter was always going to be a blessing to her, but having to be the sole provider for her scared the hell out of her. </p><p>After a few hours of interrupted sleep she woke up to an alarm that she wanted to shatter against the closest wall. She pulled on her robe and shuffled into the bathroom. She knew she still had a few minutes to herself before Jane woke up.</p><p>Her shower went by in a blur but the hot water gave her an energy only matched by the daily thick cup of black coffee from the shitty inherited coffee maker in the corner of her kitchen. She hurried to dry off, blow dry her hair and put on just enough make-up to make her look human again. Then she pulled on what she had already named her mom jeans and the first blouse she could find just to cover with her Fine &amp; Frugal top to call it a day. </p><p>She scooped a sleepy Jane up into her arms and tickled her awake until she was the happy and smiley little girl she loved to see every morning. </p><p>“Good morning sleepy head. How did you sleep?” Beth cooed, gently poking her daughters warm, chubby cheek. </p><p>Her blue eyes sparkled back at her and that made everything that happened worth it. That made her shitty apartment worth it and it made Fine &amp; Frugal worth it and it made every sacrifice she was ever going to make for the rest of her life worth it. </p><p>“That good, huh? Even after giving mama such a hard time?” She laughed and blew a raspberry on her tummy just to hear one last giggle before the day got too busy.</p><p>They went about their normal morning routine until it was time to head out. She layered them both obnoxiously in layers upon layers and topped her look off with her black puffy jacket with her huge furry hood and then took off. Half the journey was getting the stroller down the narrow stairs before she could make her way toward the bus down the street. She had exactly nine minutes until it arrived if everything went according to schedule and it was going to take seven of those minutes to get there directly. The goal being to stay out of the cold as much as possible.</p><p>They would have made it too if Mr. Kowalski didn’t insist on stopping her again on her way past his shop for his typical unproductive small talk. Or in her opinion her time he liked to waste holding her up to stare at her breasts. It usually took her about two minutes to get past him and finish making her way down the street but ideally she liked to avoid him all together. That didn’t happen this morning and the bus flew past her leaving behind a dirty layer of thick and sloshy snow. </p><p>Great, she groaned because the next one would be at least twenty minutes and it was barely twenty degrees out. She really didn’t want to have to keep buying a donut at the same conveniently located bakery across the street just to sit inside but she really didn’t have another choice. </p><p>She fished out her last ninety five cents and took residence at the booth closest to the window with the usual blueberry donut she loved in taste but hated in theory. It was a comfortable booth where she could see down the street just enough to be tipped off when the bus was treading closer and slip out the door.</p><p>All of that, including dropping her daughter off at Ruby’s mother-in-law’s for daycare and she was only eleven minutes late to work, which she actually considered a tiny miracle in itself but it didn’t stop Boomer from another creepy lecture and a write up. </p><p>“You know Beth, people are lined up out the door for your job, the least you could do is make it here on time.” He said condescendingly, looking down at his watch and writing a note near her name on his stupid clipboard. He smelled like stale beer and fried onions and it took every last bit of self-control she had not to gag in his face. </p><p>Since she knew doing that actually would get her fired, she took an obvious glance out the front windows of the store store instead. Just like she thought, no one standing out there waiting for her shitty ass underpaying job. She rolled her eyes. “I see that. I’ll be sure to be here at eight a.m. sharp tomorrow, boss. Promise.” </p><p>“You know we were robbed again last night, you’re lucky you’re still getting these morning shifts. Keep it up and I’ll throw you on graveyards, then you’ll be the one dealing with these idiots.” He threatened, walking away to bully a different floor worker passing by.</p><p>The rest of her shift went by at a decent rate, or at least only as slowly as it usually went. Each mindless scan across the conveyor belt made an already throbbing headache worse. Her mind wandered repeatedly back to the cash stashed around her place and what she was going to do with it first. Finally it was five minutes to six and her ten hour shift was almost over. </p><p>Looking down the belt she saw one last customer she could take before flipping her light off, a tall, lean Hispanic man with an eagle tattooed fiercely across his long neck and two shorter and then the two bulkier tattooed men not far behind him. </p><p>The tall man was beautiful. His dark and rough five o’clock shadow was being scraped back and forth by his hand as he stared back intently at her. His eyes were fierce and strong but deep and the tiniest bit of a smirk pulled up from the corner of his mouth. She could tell her was sizing her up for some reason.</p><p>He just didn’t have any items which struck her as a bit odd. “Can I help you with something?”</p><p>He was dressed in dark clothes but they were crisp and he was styled in a way that made him seem effortlessly handsome. He smelled like cinnamon and sandalwood or some kind of lightly scented expensive cologne.</p><p>He chuckled low and easily, quickly glancing back to his two buddies. “Yeah, darlin’, you can help me with somethin’ alright.” His eyes slowly drifted down her long but curvaceous form, lingering on her breasts for one moment too long and coming back up to meet her eyes directly. Her usual alabaster skin flushed with a deep fire as his stare ignited her from the outside in.</p><p>“Oh yeah, what’s that?” She laughed, guessing the sexual harassment was coming because this was where it usually did. The sooner she got this over with, the sooner she could pick up her daughter and go home.</p><p>The man discreetly looked around and leaned down toward her, giving her a small glimpse of the top of his gold pistol that stuck out of his jeans. “You can give me back the money you stole from me when you knocked over this dump last night. Let’s just start there.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Speak Too Soon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Beth and the girls deal with an unexpected problem after knocking over the Fine &amp; Frugal.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everyone! I’m so excited for the finale tonight, I just wish we got the rest of the episodes that were ordered. But I guess it is what it is? Anyway, this chapter is a little shorter than what the others will be but I think it transitions nicely into the rest of the story. I just want to remind everyone that some details have changed about the characters and canon story have changed and some haven't but you'll pick up on more of that as we go. I've used snippets of dialog from episode one here too. Nothing belongs to me though, I only wish it did. </p>
<p>The title of this chapter is after a song by Wild Rivers that reminded me of this chapter. I'll probably name the rest of the chapters after some of my favorite songs too because that's what you do when you write fanfics, right? lol.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Where are you taking me?” Beth pleads to anyone in the vehicle willing to listen, watching inner-city Detroit pass by through the tinted windows. She’s in the backseat of some type of ominous but luxurious feeling SUV from what she can tell, sitting next to a scary and heavily face-tattooed stoic man. The tall, dark stranger is driving, silently weaving his way through traffic and down the abandoned streets. The other guy from her checkout line sat next to him was sitting in the passenger seat and in the process of adding a fresh full clip to his gun.  </p>
<p>No one responds, no one even looks over at her. Part of her has to wonder if she’s even actually speaking out loud or if this another one of her Melatonin-induced dreams. </p>
<p>“Hello!” She snaps, and then literally snaps her fingers at the men and kicks the seat in front of her. Nothing, no reaction from them whatsoever other than a quick, sharp glance from the driver back at her in the rear view mirror. Then the one in the passenger's seat mumbles something to the driver which she doesn’t fully catch because it’s gruffly whispered in Spanish, not meant for her ears. “Va a ser un día largo…”  He chuckles and the driver smirks back at him with a slight nod and another peek at her through his rear view mirror. </p>
<p>What she doesn’t think is necessary to tell them even if they would listen to her is that whenever their cable got shut off as kids one of the only channels that would come in on the antenna was Univision. She spent the majority of her childhood watching telenovelas, actually she recalled watching Malhação for as long as she could remember. She realized now that she’s picked up more Spanish than she thought because she too thought it was going to be a long day. </p>
<p>“Answer me right now! I know you can hear me!” </p>
<p>Nothing. This time the driver turns on the radio, more Spanish. It drowns her out for the most part and she gives up asking where they’re going or what they’re planning on doing to her. It isn’t until the man next to her wraps some type of cloth blindfold quickly around her that she starts to panic again but decides against asking any more questions. If they’re planning on killing her it doesn’t seem like they care what she has to say about it and her questions seem like the least of their concern. </p>
<p>Less than ten minutes later she can feel the pot-holed pavement turn into gravel road beneath them since they’ve made a sharp turn. She doesn’t have the slightest clue where they actually are now. She supposes that was the point of blindfolding her and that they’re somewhere in or around the outskirts of Detroit but that’s all she knows.</p>
<p>When they finally stop the car and take the blindfold off her she quickly slaps at the hand of the guy removing it and kicks the driver’s seat in front of her. The driver looks back at the man next to her who quickly scolds her, “Knock it off.”</p>
<p>Realistically she knows it’s better not to piss them off even more but the anger she has is radiating out of her and at this point it’s trumping the nerves she should have.</p>
<p>“Take her inside.” The man clearly in charge orders his men. They come around and pull her into what looks like a hundred year old collapsing barn in the middle of an abandoned corn field, smack dab in the middle of back forty. She just hopes the barn doesn’t collapse while she’s inside it. Unless she’s already been killed in which case it won’t actually matter.</p>
<p>The shorter one pushes her rougher than she likes, “Get your hands off of me!” She screams, smacking him away from her but continuing to walk in the direction they’re ushering her. </p>
<p>The inside is almost completely renovated which is surprising due to the exterior. If she were to drive by this barn from the road they pulled up on she wouldn’t have guessed in a hundred years it’d be inhabitable in any way. These guys had a full operation working inside which seemed to be running as smoothly as the Chrysler plant off I-75. </p>
<p>“All the way back. Now.” The man ordered, pushing her through the workers and toward the back of the warehouse a tad gentler than he initially handled her near the car.</p>
<p>“Ok, fine. Relax” She sneered at him ironically, given her state. She wondered how the workers had yet to notice her coming through the warehouse, unless they were used to random, struggling women coming through. </p>
<p>They appeared to be working with cash, maybe all stolen? She didn’t understand what they could possibly be doing with so much of it or how this was such a large operation. Other than the overall obvious circumstances of her arrival, it seemed like a normal factory.</p>
<p>Once she turned into the backroom she saw the only two faces she wished wouldn’t be waiting for her in a hundred years. “Looks like your girls beat us here.” He snickered and gestured to the open chair waiting between them. She felt relieved that upon studying them they looked unharmed and she’d decided they were probably brought here in a similar fashion. There was something comforting in that these men hadn’t actually hurt them or assaulted them in any way, at least not yet. </p>
<p>“What’s going on? What’s happening to us?” Annie asked her as if she thought Beth would have the answers. Beth always had given her all the answers.</p>
<p>Beth shrugged, defeated and confused, and looked over to her other side at Ruby who did the same. They clearly were given just as little information as she was. She wondered how long they’d been waiting for her to arrive. Had they been there all day waiting for her shift to end? Did they just get there? </p>
<p>The way the two men sat at the small wooden table in the corner like it was normal made her stomach turn. They cracked peanuts open like they’d be doing in an old bar next to a pool table and jukebox, kicking back and shooting the shit. It was just another day at the office for them she could gather and they’d nearly forgotten they were there. </p>
<p>Minutes went by and then the minutes felt as if they turned into hours while they sat in the hooded silence waiting. She was glad she had thought to quickly text her babysitter and let her know she was stuck at work for the rest of the night before she left the employee break room to get in their car. She felt comforted in the fact that her purse and cell phone were still waiting for her at work, at least if she ever made it out they wouldn’t be able to find her address or anything other of her personal information.</p>
<p>She looked down and was reminded of her daughter with the small throw up stain on the shoulder of her blouse she missed this morning. She had originally covered it with her Fine &amp; Frugal shirt once she got to work, but that was now stripped off of her and left wrinkled back in her locker. She picked at it, rubbing back and forth to try and erase any indication that she had a baby somewhere waiting for her. The thought of Jane being left an orphan nearly killed her. The realistic possibility was that these men were going to kill them all for some reason and no one would be none the wiser. It’s not like they were remotely tied to these people, it had to be random kidnapping.</p>
<p>“Ladies.” The man who she assumed was the boss walked in and slid his cell phone into his back pocket of his tight black jeans. He used his other hand to pull out that gold gun he briefly showed her earlier. There wasn’t much about guns she was familiar with except apparently the sound of the safety being clicked off of them. From there it sat easily in his hand like it was an extension of it he had forgotten about. She couldn’t take it anymore.</p>
<p>“What money are you even talking about? We didn’t take any money from you.” Beth assures him quickly, trying to end this confusing elephant in the room as soon as possible. That’s all she remembered him saying before they forced her into their car. </p>
<p>“No sweetheart? Y’all didn’t hold up that Fine &amp; Frugal last night?” He tossed right back at her quickly and then chuckled. He’d seen the video and had his men run the recon quicker than the Detroit PD would ever have been capable of even if they’d tried. He knew for them it was a lost cause and he certainly had no reason to share his findings with them. And if he was being honest, losing fifty grand was almost worth seeing two housewives and a kid knock over a grocery store. He’d never seen anything like it. Him and his guys must have watched the footage a hundred times last night. His favorite part was when he noticed they used play guns to do the entire thing but they didn’t need to know that. </p>
<p>His eyes lingered on hers, waiting for an answer and recalling her studied movements in the footage he’d watched, almost feeling a respect and a connection with her for a moment. Like there was an inside joke or story between them only they knew, like an unspoken language they already had with each other. But then his gaze shifted down the rest of her body, taking in her soft curves and slowly stopping at her chest before darting back up to meet her eyes. She couldn’t understand why she didn’t feel as violated by it as she wanted to. It was like he couldn’t help himself.</p>
<p>She paused, dealing with the warm flush he covered her in and the confusion settling in all at once. “We... I mean… Wait, what’s that have to do with this?” No point in denying the robbery at this point, that was the least of their worries.</p>
<p>He rolled back his shoulders tightly. “Let’s just say we got some arrangements with the local businesses and that we help each other out and what not, ya know?” </p>
<p>She took it in, tried to digest what he was saying but it wasn’t registering. So he didn’t own it, he just, had stock in it? Her forehead wrinkled while she processed what he was saying.</p>
<p>Ruby peaked over at Beth, “Like, money laundering? For drugs?”</p>
<p>He’d had enough of their chitchat. They didn’t need to know any more about his business dealings, he already regretted not just shooting them. “Why don’t you stop worryin’ about what type of business I conduct and start worryin’ about how you gon get me my money back.”</p>
<p>He turned around and shifted back toward his men. Beth looked back and forth between the girls. They had most of it, except what Ruby had already paid into Sarah’s medical. There was no way they were going to be able to get that back seeing as it was already spent.</p>
<p>“We can get you back your stupid money!” Beth assured him, Ruby quickly tilted her head toward her lying friend which said it all. No we can’t!</p>
<p>He groaned tiredly back toward the other men and used his head to gesture back toward Beth. “Este es un problema.” When he turned back around he was full on grinning at her but there was no way it was genuine.</p>
<p>“Hey, are you listening? I’m talking to you!” Beth interrupted his fixation on her, slightly upset he had just told the other men she was a problem. “I said we can get you your money back.”</p>
<p>“Oh golly, that’d be great, could you?” He patronized. Frankly he’d wasted enough of his time on these suburban bitches. His gaze lingering once again on the red headed mouthy one in the middle, the one who surely held the most power of the three. </p>
<p>“Most of it. We can get most of it back for you.” Ruby assured him quickly and Beth glared at her saying with her eyes what her mouth didn’t have to. Ruby, shut up! </p>
<p>“I’m sorry, what’s that now?” He asked that one, never truly breaking eye contact with the boss woman in the middle he’d originally locked in on. She’d been a trouble maker from the beginning, no doubt the head of the operation and just bossy enough to dig her nails into his skin. He’d always been taken with women like her.</p>
<p>Ruby’s voice shook quietly. “Well, I mean. We didn’t know it was yours. My daughter, Sar-” She tried telling him and Beth kicked at her, effectively putting the boot to whatever she was about to say.</p>
<p>“Ruby, stooop.” Beth snapped at her. He didn’t need to know about their kids, no matter what he was going to do to them. Ironically, that was when his eyes glanced over at the small stain on Beth’s shoulder she’d tried so hard to keep out of his sight. She wondered now if he’d noticed it all along. </p>
<p>“Listen.” He commanded them, really not caring about whatever garbage they were spewing at him anymore. “I don’t care where it went or how you get it back, but you got two weeks.”</p>
<p>Their argument stopped and the silence in the room was harsh and resounding. “Two weeks, then what happens?” Annie nearly cried, Beth had almost forgotten she was there. </p>
<p>He looked over at her and shook his head in disbelief. The little one was annoying the fuck out of him. He was never going to do business with bitches like them again. So instead he looked down at his gun, extended his arm into the shooting position and fired three warning shots in succession just over their heads and left. There was a finality to that statement said more than any other answer could have. The two other men understood it too and got up to follow orders. They pointed back toward the car Beth arrived in and the girls couldn’t get back to it quick enough.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm always here for the comments yall! :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. All My Friends Think You’re Vicious</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Rio learns more about Elizabeth and we learn more about her past through a flashback.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is kind of an interesting chapter to me because it’s where we start to learn more about Rio and Elizabeth, who they are and what their stories are. Elizabeth’s is through a flashback.</p>
<p>All mistakes are mine so hopefully there aren’t *too* many lol. Unbetaed. </p>
<p>This chapter title is from a Two Feet song. Which hey, was actually featured on the show at one point :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Hey,” he greets her questioningly, ducking slightly and leaning across the vacant passenger seat to see her out the window. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She barely looks up and he notices her shuffling quicker down the decrepit sidewalk. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Elizabeth. Stop.” He sighs at her. “I know you can hear me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It doesn’t manage to stop her brisk walk but she turns slightly toward him and rolls her eyes. “I don’t have your money yet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, no, that’s not—-,” Rio tries to cut her off and motions sideways with his hand to try and cut her off . That’s not what this was about for him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m working on it. You’ll get it.” She snaps and ignores his plea completely. Between being a single mother just trying to keep her head above water and then trying to find a way to pay back thousands of dollars to the violent mobster currently following her, she didn’t have a lot of energy or patience left for anything else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pauses and shakes off her cheap reprimand. Despite firing a warning shot mere inches away from her head not more than a week ago, she doesn’t seem scared of him. It’s weirdly refreshing to him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where you walkin’ to? Kinda cold for a walk like this, ain’t it?” He ignores her and figures maybe changing the subject will help her calm down. Besides, his pure intrigue is what made him pull over to ask in the first place and she still hasn’t answered him or hardly even ask the question. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She further ignores him but in her haste to get away slightly loses balance on the snow and the ice, just barely catching herself on a light post near the edge of the sidewalk. She sighs and side eyes him while feeling the warmth of her embarrassment quickly spread across her otherwise numb body.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Listen, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Rio</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she emphasizes, alluding that she’s overheard or found out his name at some point and might not be as dumb as he seems to think she is. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This lady, he shakes his head because he couldn’t seem to make heads or tails of her. Why was she walking out in this so far? Why was she on this side of town and why so late at night? Didn’t she have a country club to get to somewhere? She had an edge to her that he didn’t think a white lady like her would ever have and he was still just...tired himself. Work was still taking a toll on him these days and maybe she was right. This conversation was exerting too much of his energy at this point. “A’ight then.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She hears the window and looks over to see him signaling his way back into traffic. It’s not that she doesn’t want a ride, she’d actually love one. But he’s dangerous and the last thing she needs is to fall into some trap. Once he’s out of sight she turns around and backtracks the last block back to Ruby’s mother-in-law’s to pick up Jane. At least now he wouldn’t know where she lived. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t fathom what her problem was. The more he thought about it though, the more he wanted, </span>
  <em>
    <span>needed</span>
  </em>
  <span> to know. He knew it probably had something to do with the fact that it was the first time in years that something had genuinely piqued his interest. He couldn’t remember the last time he thought about anything other than finding the bottom of a glass or end of a blunt on a late Friday night after work. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She coos a sleeping Jane and gently packs her into the stroller, just thankful that most of the snow had been shoveled at this point and it wouldn’t be an absolute nightmare trying to get home. It broke her heart but the routine was becoming easier. Bundling Jane up until she could barely move through all the layers and then make the trek to the bus and then further trek back to her apartment became her routine. The pepper spray made her feel better about doing it in the middle of the night after her graveyard shifts but it wasn’t ideal. Doing this alone on a single paycheck wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>ideal</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Being eight months pregnant and being on her feet all day wasn’t good for her or the baby and that was proven with a glance down at her ankles. Or, whenever she realized she couldn’t even see the cankles beneath the dome that was now her belly. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Dean had insisted they move out to Las Vegas after earning what he called a promotion in spa land. They had argued and argued, he insisted it was a promotion but she couldn’t agree with that, seeing that he wasn’t going to be making any more money. His parents had both passed away and so had hers. With him being an only child and Annie being at Gregg’s parents, she thought about all the reasons the move could be good for them. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>He had been good to her over the years, they’d been together for nearly ten years already and this was her life. Sure he probably wasn’t her dream man, but he was reliable and he loved her so she agreed to it. Shortly after their move she found herself four months pregnant and broke. Surprisingly making no more money in a more expensive area wasn’t the move he’d hoped it would be and she felt dumber every day for agreeing to it. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>So she found a part time job as a cocktail server at a smaller casino that mostly catered to the locals. Luckily they didn’t realize she was pregnant when they offered her the job but now they were tolerating it at best. They’d tried everything to cut her hours, citing the slower season but she knew it was really because of obvious pregnancy.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She pulled late shifts, early shifts and picked up shifts as much as she could, finding any excuse to put some extra money in their pockets. Dean was terrible with money and she didn’t think it would hurt to have a secret nest egg too for their future. For every hundred in tips she made, she put eighty in their bank account and twenty in a separate one she opened for their impending little girl. It wasn’t much and it was slow to add up but it was better than nothing.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>They had rented a trailer at one of the parks on the edge of town. It was decent for what it was but it was cheap and nowhere she wanted to be long term. They were making the most of it. Most nights these days she’d come home expecting Dean to be working late since he’d made a habit of it lately. He’d rush home near midnight,  coming home and insisting that sometimes it took a little extra to make a sale. She’d gotten into the habit of picking at a Lean Cuisine or peanut butter and jelly sandwich and falling asleep in front of the fan on their shabby old second hand couch. Usually she woke up when he tiptoed in and they went to bed when he got home. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>This time was different though. The sun was peeking through the blinds and she was stiff all over, surely a sign of spending the entire night on their lumpy couch. Once she pulled herself up into a sitting position and stretched enough to stand, she waddled back toward their bathroom to empty her bladder and then planned on waking up Dean. Maybe if she cooks him breakfast he’ll drive her to her check up and she won’t have to take the bus. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>With a quick gaze into their bedroom she noticed how untouched it was still from the day before. The made bed sat untouched and there was no sign of him. His dirty, crumpled up clothes still sat all twisted and balled up in the corner of their room where he left them. It didn’t seem to matter how many times she asked him to drop them into the dirty clothes basket and train him. Had he already left for the day? Did he not come home? She looked outside and didn’t see their car so she pulled up her cell phone to call him only to find a text, received at 3:49 a.m. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Dean: There’s someone else. I’m really sorry. I’ll come get my stuff while you’re at work tonight. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>That was it and completely out of left field She carefully lowered herself onto their bed when she felt their daughter kick into her ribs. Well, maybe not entirely out of left field. She wasn’t an idiot, she knew there were no spa sales calls that lasted all hours of the night but she’d adapted a convenient ignorance which was now crumbling away. As if it were the most natural instinct in the world her hand found her belly and smoothed over the kicking, gently wielding it to a halt. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She didn’t know why she didn’t cry, why she didn’t feel anything other than vague surprise and disgust. She wasn’t even upset, other than maybe at herself for moving across country with an idiot. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She read and reread the message but there really wasn’t much she had to say to him. What do you say to a man you’ve spent half your life with who drags you across the country, knocks you up and leaves you?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Instead she does everything she can to move forward. She carefully showers, gets dressed and starts walking toward the bus. It’s over a hundred outside and she feels like she’s melting right into the desert floor. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The doctor does an ultrasound and tells her she could really go into labor any day. They give her a paper ultrasound photo and email one to her and she leaves, making the same trek back home to get ready for work. She recognizes the faces on the city bus with her and it feels near comfortable for a moment. The whole time her mind races, just trying to fathom how she can possibly afford their place by herself. How she can afford the baby by herself. How she can survive with no car and an infant now.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Instead she texts Dean the ultrasound picture. She’s not sure why. He doesn’t deserve it. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Her phone dings shortly after. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Dean: Amber’s pregnant and we’re going to get married. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Reading that, she immediately haunches over the toilet to vomit. She cleans up, refreshes and takes the same way back to the bus again for her shift. Somehow it’s all become so routine so quickly, a bus driver she’s had on this schedule before with the same handful of struggling strangers. Everyone there just trying to make it through the day, just like her.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s on one of those treks a couple of weeks later when she’s in the middle of feeding the bus ticket machine her coins that she feels it. She reaches out to safety and something to hold on to as the driver pulls the doors closed and the bus shakes back onto the busy street, finding purchase on the rail just behind the bus driver. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She feels another one that sends her into sheer pain. It melds her body so she’s leaning over, hand on her knees, just to be able to breathe. She still had a couple of weeks left until her due date. This had to be Braxton Hicks, she just had to push through. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>A familiar older lady across from her meets her eyes and then looks down and that’s when Beth sees it. Her water broke all over the aisle way. The man next to her sees it. The woman next to him sees it. Suddenly the passengers are in panic. “Driver! She’s in labor!” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The driver looks up, shrugs and keeps driving. He had a route to keep unless she requested a stop. Beth shrieks and looks around hysterically. “My water broke! My…” she stutters, looking around frantically. “My water broke.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The older lady across from her nods and calmly, holding onto the wire above her and ready to pull to request the next bus stop. “Who can we call, sweetheart?” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Beth shakes her off, breathing through as much as she can. She didn’t have anyone to call. The woman seemed to sense that and pulled the wire. It quickly lurches to a halt and both sets of doors swing open. Beth feels the lady lay her hand smoothing across her back, rubbing gentle circles like her mom used to before everything went left.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The bus driver groans unsympathetically, “On or off ladies.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>He waits for a few moments longer than she assumes he normally would due to the situation. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Beth shakes her head, “I’ll be fine. I’m just goin-“ when she’s cut off with another rapid contraction. The lady eyes her worriedly and guides her off the bus, following right behind her. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>They stand there on the corner of a busy intersection of a street lined with neon lights and hotels, clubs, restaurants packed with incapacitated tourists. Beth struggles to catch her breath and the woman worries. The lady manages to wave down a cab and guides her inside before carefully getting in on the other side. She continues gently rubbing her back, forgoing the questions. She’d seen Beth enough on the bus to know she didn’t have many resources and she probably didn’t have many people. Within minutes they’re at the closest hospital and pushing through the emergency room doors. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She takes charge. “Hi, my friend here is in labor.” She looks over at Beth who is in the middle of yet another contraction, nodding her head anxiously. The nurse jumps up to grab a wheelchair and pushes her right back. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Wait, stop, stop.” Beth cries, twisting to look back at the woman when the nurse brakes hard. “Can you come with me?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She bites her lip, waiting for the older woman to leave but she doesn’t. She gently smiles and follows them back to the room. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>As the hours passed, Beth’s contractions got stronger, and the exhaustion creeped in. She’d sit up to try and breathe her way through, only to fall back on the bed and gasp in fresh pain. The whole time, the woman stood by her and comforted her. They’d made very light conversation over the past few hours, not even exchanging names though the lady had heard hers during triage. They sat in a comfortable silence. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She’d also heard Beth tell the nurse the father ran off on her and they were divorcing, he had another family coming instead. Beth did share that she was from Michigan but couldn’t afford to move back. The woman’s heart hurt for her. She was truly alone. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Beth panted harder and harder until the doctor decided it was time for her to push. So she pushed, she did her breathing, she pushed again and then she tried to quit. “I can’t do it. I’m sorry I just can’t.” She said so politely and dismissively the older woman and now familiar nurse nearly chuckled and the woman pulled her hand into hers carefully.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“You can dear. You can and you will. Let’s have you give us just a couple more big pushes and then we’ll get to meet that little fighter you’ve grown in there.” Beth gasped again, shaking her head. “It’s too hard. It hurts too much.” She argues dismissively. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The lady laughs. “If it were easy, a man would be doing it.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Forty seven minutes later a tiny pink bundle is placed into her arms and that’s when she finally cries. She cried long and she cried hard for every teardrop she had ever pushed down for every feeling of pain and worry she had ever felt, and when her daughter opened her blue eyes for the first time she stopped and she dried them off and started over. Now she would be strong.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The nurse continued monitoring Beth and the baby while Beth bonded and the older woman gazed at the pair lovingly. The baby girl had taken to nursing with Beth right away and she was a natural with her. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Do we have a name for her yet?” The nurse asked, holding paperwork for Beth to possibly sign. She bit her lip, looking longingly at her little bundle. She hadn’t even had a chance to think about a name. She had been in survival mode. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Not yet.” Beth admitted, staring down at her daughter’s face, into her eyes.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“That’s ok, that’s common. Why don’t you try to get a little sleep and we’ll take her to the nursery. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She seemed to immediately panic and the older woman sensed it. “She’ll be ok dear, it won’t be for long. You should get a little rest while you can, you’ll need it.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Beth looked down at her baby and then back at the other two women but cautiously agreed. She watched the nurse gently pick her up and smile while taking her away. “We’ll be right down the hall. Just press your button if you need anything at all.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She sat back and sighed, realizing for the first time and sensing just how sore she already was. The stranger laughed. “Like I said, if it weren’t like this, men would try to do it.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Beth giggled slightly and agreed, leaning back in bed trying to get comfortable. She felt her eyes closing and immediately nodded off into a deep slumber. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Hours later she woke up to the end of a golden sunset and an empty room. A new bouquet of the most beautiful fresh pink peonies sat next to her along with an envelope. Their scent comforted her as she reached for the envelope. She leaned forward to look for the older woman, thinking maybe she was just in the hallway but there was no sign of her, no other evidence of her ever being there. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It was a congratulations card with the hospital’s logo in the corner, clearly bought from the gift shop next door. Her name was written at the top in an elegant cursive. She flipped open the card and a check immediately slid out. She pulled it up out of surprise and noticed the five thousand dollars written across it, gasping loudly and looking closer to see if that was correct and who it could possibly be from.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It was five grand, and it was signed down at the bottom. She looked back up at the card and wept at what she saw. “I hope you believe in yourself as much as I believe in you. Get home safely, dear. Love, Jane.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Mother and daughter arrived in Detroit two weeks later with only what she could pack in two large suitcases and a carry on. The money got her into an apartment and the basic baby products and diapers she needed to start out. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The journey back to the bus was harsh and cold. It was made more frustrating when the same familiar black car pulled over and the window rolled down to harass her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sat on the bench waiting, trying to block the wind from the stroller as he stared. “That your kid?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She rolled her eyes at him. “No, I found this one and just decided to keep her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sighed, still not understanding anything about this woman. “Get in. I’ll give you a ride.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shook him off again. “It’s far.” She didn’t want to put him out and she didn’t actually want to be murdered, despite asking for it earlier.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This time he didn’t ask again. He threw the car into park and got out, walking around to the other side and looking down oddly confused and less than confident at the stroller. “This come apart, yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She paused, deciding whether she was going to appease him finally or not before giving in and nodding. “The car seat clicks out and the base folds down.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He gestured toward it for her to do it and she did, holding the car seat with her sleeping daughter in her arms. He tossed the expanded base into his trunk and opened the back door for her. After a moment or two of clicks she joined him in the front. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So you got a kid.” He nodded toward the back and she shrugged. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How old is she?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Four months.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was then he realized he actually knew nothing about her deeper than the surface level recon his boys did after the robbery to find out where they could find her. It was so cold outside, he wondered if a baby should even be out in this weather but it didn’t seem necessary to ask her. Especially since everything was already a fight with her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Pretty cold out there tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded. “We’re layered up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded now, noticing just how bundled up both of them were. The conversation was awkward at best. He didn’t know what he was doing here or why he was so concerned. They drove in a stagnant silence the rest of the way as she guided him back to her place. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He figured she lived somewhere near here based the route he had noticed her taking on days he drove past on his way to and from meetings but didn’t think it’d be quite in this part of town. She jumped out, quickly unclicking the car seat. He popped the trunk and rolled the stroller base up to her. “Do you need help getting inside?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She quickly shook him off. “I’m good. Thanks for the ride.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rio shrugged at her, concern etching over his face as she scurried behind some old store to what he assumed was an apartment door. He waited until he saw a light flick on above it and then got back into his car to leave.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Beth and the girls spent the next week trying to come up with the money. They were able to scrounge up a little more but nowhere near what they owed. It was still before their deadline so they had a little more time but not enough. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a particularly late shift at Fine &amp; Frugal and a blizzard, Beth was practically jogging down the street toward the bus. The stroller kept getting stuck in standing snow and having to be wiggled free in order to continue forward when that same black Cadillac pulled over, only without the request for permission this time. He jumped out and popped the trunk in silence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Beth shrugged and decided not to turn down another right in the current weather and even pushed down her pride enough to make a request. “Can we stop at the Walmart on the way so I can get diapers? I’ll be fast.” She was ashamed to request when he was already going out of his way to help her but one thing she quickly learned in her short time as a mother was that it didn’t matter, she’d do anything she had to do her her. Even if it meant asking a gangster who probably had a hit out on her for a favor. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded. Mostly thinking about his mom and how she did it all on her own too. He didn’t know Elizabeth’s story but he knew she was struggling and didn’t seem like the type who asked for a lot of help. They went through the same drill of getting the stroller packed away and the baby strapped in and continued down the road to her place. When he saw the blue lights of Walmart he pulled in and helped her again with the stroller. She looked over when she heard the lock of his doors to see him right behind her. “You can wait out here you know, I’ll just be five minutes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah. Got a few things to get too.” He shrugged and followed her inside and then toward the back where the baby stuff was. She reached toward the bottom shelf and grabbed the box of generic diapers and placed them in their cart. Then haphazardly looked up at him, biting her lip awkwardly and grabbed another. “Might as well get two now since I won’t have to carry them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He understood and they walked up past the groceries on their way to checkouts. He grabbed a loaf of bread on the way, just something to pretend he really did have something of his own to get. “Did you need any groceries?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He could tell she did but didn’t want to put him out so he lied. “I was actually going to stop here anyway and get a few things. Really.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hadn’t shopped at Walmart in years, not since he started making decent money. Usually he ate out or stopped at Whole Foods. She didn’t need to know that though, just something else he’d keep to himself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Beth mulled it over. She knew she had about seventy dollars she could spend on groceries and diapers so she agreed and began very carefully budgeting in her head what she could get to make it through the most meals. She grabbed peanut butter and jelly, cheap frozen dinners, macaroni and cheese, really anything processed that would keep and could be easily cooked these days had become her staple. He grabbed a bag of pretzels from an end cap and dropped them into the cart. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their silence was comfortable and even broken here and there by a mumbling or two about needed items. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t stop wondering about the sleeping baby in the front of their cart and finally found his nerves. “She sleeps a lot.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Beth looked up at him, ‘Babies do that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he smirked she rolled her eyes and he laughed at her. “Does she normally sleep this easily?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She giggled and he thought it was the first time he’d heard it. “Sure, unless it’s 3AM. She’s more of a late night kind of girl.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They both laughed. He knew enough about babies to know they tended to be unpredictable at best. She seemed to be handling it ok though so he was rather impressed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, I completely forgot wipes. I can just run back there,” she assured him, hestitantly deciding the two minute run back wouldn’t be enough to disrupt his shopping or Jane. She looked at him and the cart again, “I’ll just be a second.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He panicked and froze, peering down at the sleeping baby in front of him worriedly. Elizabeth was already halfway across the store and here he was, stuck. He hadn’t been around a baby in years, not since his sister had his nephew who was now going on what he thought was about ten years old. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just like that as if perfectly scheduled to screw with him, the little girl opened her eyes and looked right up into his gaze. She blinked those big blue eyes he couldn’t help but notice perfectly depicted Elizabeth’s and they darted back and forth, no looking for her mother in fear. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The screeching cry she let out was instant. Giant crocodile tears filled her eyes and she gasped for air just to refill her lungs after her screams. He peered back toward the aisle Elizabeth had run down and naturally saw no sign of her while Jane continued to wail. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The next best he could do was push the cart gently back and forth, hoping to lull her out of it and calm her down. Strangers passing by glared at him like he’d done to so many himself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A man that reminded him of Mick gently patted his shoulder as he scooted past the pair in the aisle. “When they cry, you gotta pick ‘em up.” He chuckled and Rio glared at him but decided he wasn’t wrong. He slowly unclipped the safety belt strapping her in and looked back one last time for Elizabeth who was MIA. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Awkwardly moving his hands toward her and then under her in a weird angle he scooped her up and held her in his hands. She was still screaming, just a little quieter than when she was in the seat on her own. He couldn’t help but laugh when he noticed how far away from him he was holding her. Even she was looking up at him weirdly as her cries slowed down. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pulled her into his chest and set his hand on her back. It took up nearly the entire surface and her head gently eased onto his shoulder. He realized as he moved his hand gently back and forth she became more comfortable and settled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As if it were completely natural for him to be in this situation, he started slowly bouncing up and down until she let out her final cry and cooed up at him curiously. He couldn’t help but grin back at that little face and the little hand of hers coming up to touch his face. He took a hold of it and looked at her little fingers, they were tiny and they wrapped around his pointer finger and squeezed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi there, lil ma’am. Whatchu cryin’ for?” He smiled and looked back at her stubby little fingers around his. “You want your momma? She’ll be right back, ok?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He waited patiently after that rocked her back and forth. Once her eyes settled closed he decided to put her back in the car seat but Elizabeth surprised him instead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They locked eyes and he could tell she was trying not to disrupt them. He just hoped she wasn’t standing there for too long. He had a reputation. “Sorry, had to grab milk too while I was back there. She crying?” She asked him curiously, gesturing toward her sleeping daughter in his arms. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh,” he looked down awkwardly, pulling the baby away from him and handing her back off to Elizabeth, “Just for a second. Didn’t know what to do. Sorry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shrugged and took her back. Rio couldn’t help but grin at how perfectly the little girl fit in her arms and slept. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t think she’d wake up. I shouldn’t have left her with you like that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He thought about her and her story, trying to piece together what he knew about her so far other than that she was a closed book. She couldn’t have been more than twenty five and yet she was completely on her own doing all of this and there had to be a reason. It just didn’t seem like she wanted to share it any time soon but he couldn’t think of a reason she should.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No worries. Ready?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They walked the short distance up to checkouts. Elizabeth started adding her items and leaned down to get the first box of diapers but he shoved her off again. “I got it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her hands were full and there wasn’t much anyway. He finished putting all of the items on the belt, his first and hers behind them. Elizabeth rocked back and forth with Jane while reaching into her purse for her cash. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The cashier spoke up, “That’ll be $82.98.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Beth looked at her bewildered. “Oh, um, I think you scanned ours -“ she tried to fix, noticing they forgot to add the divider between their items. “S’ok, I got it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rio slid his card, entered his PIN and was already being handed a receipt. He put the rest of the bags in their cart and gestured toward the door. “Ready?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was furious. Her lips tight and her eyes narrowing in at him, “You didn’t have to do that. You’ve done enough.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your hands were full,” He gave her an out, raising his hands up in faux surrender. He knew enough about her so far that her money was tight and his wasn’t, but that didn’t mean she was a charity case. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just add it to your bill.” He joked while she settled Jane back into the car seat and took off toward his car in the parking lot. She shook her head at him in disbelief.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can give you cash, here…” Beth reached into her purse, fumbling around for the cash she had allotted. In her search for it she also pulled out a binky, two different pairs of baby socks and portable baby wipes but no cash. He was amused to no end and rolled his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Save it.” And they both knew that was the end of the discussion so she momentarily gave up and settled back into his car. He must have started it before they came back out because it still felt warm and it was nice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The streets of Detroit were dark and the town was mostly asleep. Fresh snow had continued to fall while they were shopping, making the drive back to her place a little slower and slicker. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pulled up the same way he had a few nights ago and shut the car off. He jumped out and opened the trunk, taking the folded up stroller base under one arm and a box of diapers in the other while waiting for her to lead him upstairs. She side-eyed him hesitantly. “I can get it. Honestly you’ve done more than enough.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rio shut her down. “If you think I’m gon’ let you drag a sleepin’ infant, two boxes of diapers and a handful of shitty groceries up those stairs on your own then you trippin’.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was so rude, she couldn’t stand it. So she huffed and whipped around toward the back door leading to her apartment stairs. He followed her back there, eyeing the place and the shady surroundings. They walked up and he waited for her to unlock her door which opened way too easily for his liking. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The apartment was exactly what he thought it would be but nothing at all what he expected at the same time. It was small and dingy but well kept forgoing a small amount of cluttered papers on her table. There were some baby things lining in the walls but that was it. A couch that looked like it had been passed down for generations sat idly in her living room, facing a blank wall. There was no television and a lonely lamp sitting beside it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>While Beth took Jane back into her bedroom, he peered around into the kitchen. It looked empty too, almost as if they had just moved in. Maybe they did, he was realizing he knew less about this woman than he even thought. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She’s out.” Beth laughed as she came back into the living room. “I’ll just go grab the rest of my things and you can go.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He meant to do that on his own while she was in there but got distracted. “Nah, I got it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was too tired to argue and it was too cold outside to insist so she shrugged back at him. He came back up quickly with the rest of her grocery bags and they stood in silence while he delayed leaving and she put her groceries away. There was nothing inside her fridge and he couldn’t look away as she filled it with cheap crap that wouldn’t fill him up on a full stomach. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well hey, thank you again.” She thanked him weakly, like she ironically felt less powerful on her own turf now. “You saved me a ton of trips to the store.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t know why he had spent so much effort on her. She owed him money for fucks safe but he couldn’t help himself. “What time you work tomorrow?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She didn’t say anything and he thought maybe it was time for him to go, maybe he pushed too far. But then she mumbled “Six.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded. “I’ve got to work tomorrow night too. Be ready and I’ll pick you up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She didn’t know what to say and he didn’t leave it open for discussion. “Okay.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After that he quickly slipped out her door and pulled it shut quietly. When he left, the car ride was too quiet, despite the fact that they had sat in silence with each other for the majority of the drive anyway. He took the elevator up to his third floor Midtown loft and sighed while he quickly unloaded his groceries. Rhea’s photo on his fireplace caught his eye and he felt a pang of guilt spread through him as he gulped and poured a few fingers of bourbon. He spent hours with that woman tonight and hadn’t thought about his dead wife once.</span></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>These two have me so messed up all the time. Also, there will never be a story that I write in which I don’t make Deansy out to be the catastrophic douche bag we all know he is.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. How Do You Sleep?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Beth and Rio both have a little baggage. But maybe they can start to help each other unpack.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Beth and Rio both have a little baggage. But maybe they can start to help each other unpack.</p><p>There was proofread multiple times by me but only me. So all mistakes are my own. Hopefully there aren’t too many though :)</p><p>Thank you everyone for reading this story, reviewing, and most importantly sticking with it during the delay. Seriously, thank you!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The days continued to go by and they continued to fall into a routine of sorts. Not anything that seemed like a good idea, but she was doing what she had to do to get by. More times than not Rio would pick her and Jane up for the day, make the drive across town to Ruby’s Mother-in-Law for daycare and then back to drop Beth off at work. He usually made time to pick them up too, albeit against any prideful rejections Beth had.</p><p>She figured the least she could do was try to be outside and ready when he pulled up. The air rushing about was absolutely frigid and the ground was a wet, sloshy nightmare with patches of black ice tucked beneath the snow and puddles. The streets were eerie at this time of morning, before the rest of the world had really woken up.</p><p>Their timing couldn’t have been better. Less than a minute later that seemingly familiar ominous G-Wagon slid onto the curb and Rio popped out. “Get in.” </p><p>He gestured toward his car with a nod of his head as he snatched the stroller from her. Jane was somehow sleeping perfectly soundly and looked bundled up and cozy. </p><p>“That’s not necessary…” She argued and attempted to shoo him off so she could break apart the stroller on her own.</p><p>A deep sigh came out of the man proving he was all too familiar with her stubborn pride already and he turned to her patiently, “I got it, ma. Got the heat cranked for ya in there.”</p><p>She instinctively pulled her bottom lip tightly between her teeth and glanced back toward the passenger window of his car. It did look warm and he was already outside. She swung open the door and caroled herself up into the front seat. </p><p>She could see Rio gently tucking the carsear into the holder which had somehow mysteriously appeared as a regular in his backseat and rolled her eyes to herself at its presence. But when he gently retucked Jane’s knitted pink blanket around her and softly closed her door before effortlessly deconstructing the stroller and sliding it up into his back hatch she let it go. It was probably easier for everyone this way and a battle she was going to lose. </p><p>He jumped back into the driver's seat and signaled before merging back onto the street and into early morning traffic. </p><p>“You gotta let people help you,” he gently reminded her. His own mother on his mind, doing everything on her own for three kids just because she had to.</p><p>“Accepting help and accepting help from someone who’s going to kill me are two different things.”</p><p>He smirked over at her. “Sure, but you don’t accept either.”</p><p>She shrugged, too tired for it and holding no real answers herself. Neither one of them broached the subject of the money her and the girls owed him but they knew it was there and always just below surface level of their conversation.</p><p>The thing Beth couldn’t figure out was the sadness she noticed in his eyes the more she was around him. It wasn’t the same look he had when he was working and they first met, when he was threatening them to return his money. It was a tired expression that never really left unless it had to and even then she noticed it tucked into the edges of his face begging to reappear. She wondered if hers ever looked the same. </p><p>————————————-</p><p>The rest of the day went by just like every other had for Beth. Boomer was dating some new woman from his church and off her back for a while so she was basking in it. Before she knew it, it was the end of the day again and she saw Rio pull up outside the dark windows of the store. </p><p>They settled into a routine easily and once a week he’d turn down the street that led to Walmart and they’d shop. Mostly, he would load Jane’s car seat into the cart and Beth would push as she carefully calculated what she could afford to get. He’d walk beside her, grabbing a few small things of his own sometimes but often just letting her do her thing. </p><p>This was the first week Jane woke up before they got inside and boy did she wake up with a scream. Those big ‘ol tears he had only seen once or twice filled her eyes in the back seat and immediately found Elizabeth’s as she jolted her stare back toward her daughter. “Oh it’s ok sweet pea, I’m right here.” She cooed at her, reaching for her little foot from the front seat. </p><p>Something about Elizabeth seemed hesitant and she looked up at Rio. A deep blush spread up across her face and she had that lower lip tucked between her teeth again. “She’s hungry. She’s going to cry like this until I feed her and I don’t have any milk left that I pumped earlier...”</p><p>Rio shrugged. What’d she want him to do about it? Then it clicked. She was asking if it was ok for her to feed her before they went inside. He looked down toward his lap and nodded. “Aight then.”</p><p>He jumped out of the car and pulled a wailing Jane up into his arms, gently rubbing her back as he quickly brought her around the car to Elizabeth who looked embarrassed and eternally grateful at the same time. They carefully settled her into her arms and Rio stood there for a moment, watching as the little girl already started to calm down and bury herself into her mother’s breast like it was an old habit that had not yet died hard. </p><p>When he realized his eyes were lingering on them he shook himself out of it and turned quickly. “I’ll just…” and softly shut the door and turned around, waiting outside toward the rear of the car. He was feeling satisfied the G-Wagon had the tinted windows which were able to provide the girls with privacy.</p><p>Walmart was packed as usual but he was getting used to it. Once in a while Beth would take off again to grab a forgotten item as she did, leaving him with Jane in the cart in some aisle they were walking down before she abandoned them. Usually Jane slept. Sometimes her sleepy eyelids moved and her sleepy gaze looked right at him. The blue eyes she donned were so much like Elizabeth’s he couldn’t look away at just how much she looked like her.</p><p>“Hey there, lil mama.”</p><p>Her smile grew and she didn’t even look around for her mama this time, just up at him. Then she reached up and squeezed his long thin finger, the one he kept his black ring on, in her little hand and his heart fluttered. She was so tiny, so sweet, and just about as innocent as they come. The hardness of the world had yet to break her and there was something special to him in that.</p><p>Her next little giggle was interrupted by a hiccup and he chuckled. “You got them hiccups, huh?” He teased, waiting for the next one which came right on schedule. “You get a lil milk drunk out in the parking lot did ya?”</p><p>Jane looked confused at what was happening, her smile instantly dropping again and he just knew she was gonna wail. The hiccups weren’t stopping, despite Elizabeth getting a couple good burps out of her before they left the car.</p><p>He eyed her warily, gingerly pushing her back and forth in the cart softly to calm her. It didn’t work because now the tears were flowing so he unbuckled her and carefully moved her in toward his chest. He figured she needed another good burp.</p><p>“Them are just hiccups, lil one. They’ll go away. Promise.” He whispered and slowly rubbed circles on her jumpy back, feeling the brash movements every time one came up. He lightly patted and then rubbed, creating a pattern of comfort for the lil one in his arms.</p><p>The hiccups lasted longer than he thought, almost to the point he wondered if there wasn’t something else he could do for her. But they eventually slowed and so did her tears, and then he stopped and looked down at her little head full of soft brown hair that had landed on his chest and watched her eyes drift shut again from the pure exhaustion of the near traumatizing event.</p><p>“There ya go, sleepy head. See, I told ya.” He laughed down at her as he continued holding her and pushing the cart down the aisle. A little old lady stopped and took in the sight of them. </p><p>“Someone’s a good daddy,” She smiled up at him with Jane cozy in his arms and he stopped. The lady looked to be about eighty and probably weighed seventy pounds.</p><p>“Uhh, no… this ain’t…” He tried telling her but she interrupted.</p><p>“What an adorable little girl you’ve got there.”</p><p>The lady looked up at them grinning.“Thank you.” He smiled back, not knowing what else to say in that moment. Then she was already on her way down the aisle. He pushed down the feeling inside that told him she wasn’t his to claim and he probably should have kept his mouth shut.</p><p>Just like that, Elizabeth was back and sneaking up on them. “You’re good with her.” </p><p>He shrugged, how hard did she think it was to comfort a fussy baby? Especially one that never usually even made a sound.</p><p>She reached up and snuck her hands around Jane and pulled her back into her arms. “Sorry about that.”</p><p>“Ain’t nothin’.”</p><p>She nodded and they walked down the rest of the aisle. She felt herself warming toward the man, despite every instinct in her body that told her to run, seeing as the first time she met him he literally fired shots just feet from her. “You can hold her. You don’t have to ask. I think other than me and Ruby’s mom she sees you more than anyone else.”</p><p>He grunted at that and she rolled her eyes and settled her back down into her seat to head for checkouts. They did the usual song and dance of him trying to pay for her groceries but she was able to talk the cashier into taking her money instead this time which left her with the smallest pang of pride. It felt good not taking a handout from him for once.</p><p>They made all kinds of small talk during their back and forths, but the money was never part of it. Beth didn’t forget but it was as if he did. She actually had a plan to get it all, just had to wait to talk to the girls about it.</p><p>“Listen, you and your girls ever gonna be able to pay me back?” He spoke up suddenly, breaking the fresh silence during their ride.</p><p>She looked over at him and shrugged, “I’ve got a few ideas.”</p><p>He didn’t like that. Figured she was just gonna knock over another grocery store or somethin’ and frankly neither of them needed the trouble.</p><p>“Nah, I don’t think ya do. But I got somethin.”</p><p>She sighed and looked over at him. “Oh yeah? What’s that?” </p><p>“How you feel about bending the law?”</p><p>He felt her side eye him but kept his eyes on the road. </p><p>“Uhh, I guess it depends on where I’m bending it.” They fell into another silence. Neither one of them particularly willing to give any which had become par for the course with them. </p><p>“Listen, y’all ain’t realize that was my money, I know that. Problem is, I can’t just let you off the hook that fast. I got a reputation to keep and all that. You know how it is.”</p><p>She nodded, understanding him completely.</p><p>“So I was thinkin’, I got a truck I gotta pick up from Toledo. Gotta be brought back up to Detroit. You think you can do that?”</p><p>There was no way she could picture the truck and not picture it full of something that could land her a life sentence. “What’s in the truck?”</p><p>“Yeah, you ain’t gotta worry about that. Just know you gotta be careful and can’t get pulled over.”</p><p>“If I’m moving the truck, I need to know what I’m in possession of.”</p><p>“Look ma, you ain’t in possession of nothin’. You movin’ a truck. If you can’t do that, you can just pay me back the money and right quick too.” He grumbled back. Tried helpin this lady and all he gets are twenty questions in return.</p><p>She didn’t like his attitude and she didn’t like how the moment she invaded his privacy like he was constantly invading hers he’d snap at her. Like he was throwing her that big of a bone. It seemed safer to just hold up a convenience store honestly. But part of her couldn’t get past the mystery of it all and that’s where she dug her heels in.</p><p>“No, I can move it.” She confirmed easily, like she’d made that statement a hundred other times before in her life.</p><p>“Aight then. We’ll go over details tomorrow.”</p><p>She pulled Jane’s car seat out and Rio followed her up the stairs with the rest and the groceries once they got back to her place. He brought it in and watched her put it all away into nearly empty cupboards after tucking Jane into her crib.</p><p>He didn’t know why he was still standing there. </p><p>“Where’s her father?”</p><p>She stopped moving and a cloud of silence sat between them. It was as if she couldn’t decide if she was surprised he waited so long to ask or offended he thought he had the right to ask her about him at all.</p><p>“He sells hot tubs in Vegas.” She shrugged, all the answers she felt like giving him tonight. “You should go, it’s late.”</p><p>The way she shut any further questions down told him that was only part of the story and the only information she was willing to give him tonight. “Yea, guess I should.” </p><p>“Talk to you tomorrow. Thank you again. You don’t have to keep doing this.”</p><p>“See you tomorrow, Elizabeth.” Rio waved her off, slipping out her door without another word. The fear of what tomorrow could bring not even at the top of her head, because somehow she knew he wouldn’t let her do anything she couldn’t handle.</p><p>——————————————-</p><p>Annie and Ruby arrived just when her macaroni and cheese was finishing up on the stove a little while later. “Oh dinner! Thanks sis.” Annie drooled, grabbing a bowl from her cabinet and taking a hearty serving.</p><p>“Um, you’re welcome?” Beth sighed, resigned to now sharing something she was ready to eat on her own. Ruby rolled her eyes at Annie. “You ever think that maybe that wasn’t for you?”</p><p>Annie paused, mid shake of hot sauce she pulled from her purse. “You want it back?”</p><p>Somehow even this Beth missed while she was in Vegas. Annie was the only constant in her life and probably the biggest thing that prepared her for motherhood. Although if she could have done everything any other way, she probably would have.</p><p>Initially they were coming over to discuss plans to make Rio’s money back and pay him. Now, she wasn’t so sure that was necessary but also wasn’t so sure she was ready to tell them that she was going to do a job for him. Do a job for him? Did she talk like that now?</p><p>———————————————-</p><p>On the other side of Detroit, in a much better and safer area, Rio finally strolled into his apartment after a long day. He’d stopped at one of his warehouses and met with some of his guys on the plans for tomorrow and where exactly they wanted the truck and how they were going to have Elizabeth execute it. He was nearing the top of the chain in Detroit, only a couple of guys above him that he just so happened to work for. But that was all about to change soon, even if it killed him.</p><p>The rest of the drive home had been a blur, the silence quickly got to him just as it always had before he met the red head and little one that took up part of his days so fast. He wondered how he even got home when he felt like he must have zoned out for most of it.</p><p>Feeling like he should at least eat something before heading to bed, he popped open the fridge and made a quick sandwich while making do with the few staples he actually had on hand and closed the fridge. The date circled on the calendar there, tomorrow, wasn’t lost on him. Or at least it shouldn’t have been. </p><p>The last thing he wanted to do was drive to Pontiac and celebrate his dead wife’s birthday with her family. His phone weighed heavy in his back pocket as he contemplated what to do and tried to push down the lingering guilt that came with being there for her less and less than he needed to be these days. Less than he promised he would be.</p><p>She died giving birth to his son ultimately but it had been a wild ride. He thought back to their families, growing up with her, hanging with her at family gatherings, going through school, her tagging along when he ran the streets with her older brother Johnny. Eventually they started hooking up and eventually she talked him into getting married. </p><p>They started off fine. Nothing really changed with them, they just adapted and merged their lives together. Eventually when he started climbing higher up the chain, she became distant. One fight turned into two and he realized he was never invested enough to sacrifice what he had goin for him for her just because she couldn’t get on board with it all. It wasn’t no shock, he started this shit back in middle school and it ain’t like it had been a damn secret.</p><p>The day he finally brought home the divorce papers he had his attorney Gretchen draw up and was going to broach the topic of divorce happened to also be the day she told him first about the pregnancy. The most shocking part was they hadn’t even been like that for months. He was never feelin’ it. Never feelin’ her anymore. Then out of some urgent need to hold everything together a little while longer, he gave in and they had sex one more time which is therefore how the whole pregnancy came about. </p><p>He thought back to her crying, telling him how happy she was and how this was exactly what they needed. This was the sign she told him, they were always meant to be together. </p><p>So he made it work. He convinced himself that his wife was the love of his life, that they were meant to be. The only thing he really knew for sure was that getting a child out of all of this was a blessing and he was going to try to make it work. He owed them both that.</p><p>If only it were that easy. The pregnancy got harder for her and the difficulty she had carrying only strained them both. Before long she was on permanent bed rest, after a few spotting scares and high blood pressure they could never seem to get down. </p><p>Then at only twenty weeks along he woke up to Rhea screaming and a liquid mixed with blood all around them, covering their bed and soaking down onto the floor. Thinking back, all he can remember are the hazardous blue and red lights flashing into the dark of their room and answering question after question for the paramedics who rushed her into their ambulance. He jumped in too, barely even remembering a shirt.</p><p>That’s how just six hours later he walked out of the front doors of the hospital alone. No wife and definitely no baby. Then until now a dark period, filled with work, grief, and mostly guilt.</p><p>“Won’t be able to make it tomorrow.” He typed slowly on his phone. It took a few tries but finally he hit send and silenced his phone face down on the counter. Their families never knew they were struggling in their marriage before she got pregnant, never knew he wanted out or that their baby was the only thing stitching them together at that point. Hell, neither did she probably. The least he owed her memory was his devotion. That’s why he was yet to take that photo down and probably why he hadn’t even thought about trying to move before. He couldn’t face them and there was no way he could make it when he had to drive to Toledo...with Elizabeth. </p><p>—————————————————-</p><p>Later the next day he pulled up to Fine &amp; Frugal to pick her up and watched her rush out into the parking lot, immediately eyeing his car and moving to jump up into it. </p><p>He watched her immediately pull off her work shirt, quickly tucking it into her bag. “Ruby’s picking Jane up and taking her for the evening so we can leave now.”</p><p>He nodded and tried not to stare as she pulled a different top up and over head, covering up the skimpy tank top that she had kept on as her bottom layer. She was pouring out of it and somehow always smelled like cupcakes, had him wanting to bury his face in her chest and live there. And, okay. That was new.</p><p>He let out a quick cough, trying to snap out of it. That was the last thing either of them needed. Besides, he hadn’t thought about anyone other than Rhea...at all before now and that’s the way he wanted to keep it.</p><p>“Yea, so keys are tucked into your visor up there. I’ma drop you off two blocks north of the truck which is parked in a garage downtown. It’s a decent area but just be aware. It’s gon be the only truck there you need to worry about and you’ll see it right away. Trust me. Get in. Drive back to Detroit. Call me when you get back and I’ll tell you where to park it.”</p><p>She nodded, committing his brief instructions to her memory and pulled the keys down to shove them into her purse. “What’s your number?”</p><p>“Got ya a burner. My number is the only one in there. You’ll call me, then ditch the phone. I’d prefer if you dropped it in a lake, something like that.”</p><p>This was all so sketch she could barely stand it, but she also realized it was the most fun she had in years. Fun. Moving a truck full of… drugs? Bodies? Stolen weapons? She didn’t even know but she knew she probably should. Maybe she’d stop somewhere and take a peak in the back.</p><p>“And don’t think you can pop the trunk back there either. It’s locked and sides, it ain’t none of your business what’s back there. Just drive it and ditch it. Got it?”</p><p>How did he know what she was thinking? Her face blushed and she nodded. That’s exactly what she was going to do. </p><p>An hour later she found herself staring blankly down the street of some abandoned warehouse lot in Toledo. He had vaguely pointed north before speeding away and she couldn’t help but wonder how she found herself in such a precarious situation. If Ruby and Annie found out, they’d lose their minds. Hell, she was trying not to lose her mind enough right now as it was. </p><p>The truck she found was just as obvious as Rio said. It confused her how a truck so devious could be plopped so obviously in a vacant garage. There were no other cars and nothing stopping anyone’s attention from finding it. </p><p>The keys she pulled out of her purse fit into the door and then ultimately started the old truck. It had a full tank and she just needed to drive an hour back up north for all this to be over with. </p><p>If only things would ever go so simply. There was nothing she could do about the car accident a few miles ahead of her quickly clogging up the freeway. The burner phone sat in her hand as she shared her glances between that and the road, planning what she was going to do next. If she wasn’t there on time, Rio would freak out. Should she call him and let him know? She picked it up, started looking for the contacts list and that’s when she heard it. A siren.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Maple Syrup Glow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Beth does her first run for Rio and later makes Rio dinner. It goes as well as you might expect.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Shorter chapter but it felt like a good place to end. I’m from Detroit so I’m actually pretty familiar with the area I mention in this story! I just want to stress that while there ARE bad areas of Detroit, there are so many good areas and it’s really coming up. There’s such a deep history there of culture, architecture, food, music, etc. that get overlooked because of the crime people focus on. It’s just like any other big city. Anyway! I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sirens behind her flew by, first two ambulances and then a Sheriff’s Deputy swerving around her line of traffic and well into the rocky shoulder of the highway. She sighs in relief, the accident up ahead must be even worse than she thought. Traffic was now at a complete standstill and every nerve in her body was on fire. As if just to taunt her, every time she pressed the heavy old breaks down the truck screeched to a loud, mocking stop, drawing the attention of every bored onlooker around her. </p><p>Because things for her always seemed to get worse, raindrops started sneaking down out of the sky and onto the crusty old windshield of the dirty truck. The road looked wet of rain and oil while she remembered that’s when the roads are generally the slipperiest, right after the start of rain. Great.</p><p>There were two black switches attached to the steering wheel and she flipped them both. One alerted traffic she was going to merge right, which was a lie so she flipped it off. The other did nothing except just barely move the wipers on the truck's windshield. They didn’t rise up, just popped for a second to signify there should be some form of life there, but all traces of that was gone. That tracks.</p><p>Luckily, the way traffic was moving the lack of wipers didn’t bother her as much as it should have but if the rain picked up any, she was screwed. Learning from the first time, she picked the burner up and carefully looked out her windows for any cops. The truck didn’t exactly have great visibility, which might aid in her favor for using a phone while she’s driving. She leaned up as far as she could to peer our into the night through her side mirrors to look for cops. The familiar cars traveling her same journey only left surrounding her so she decided to call Rio.</p><p>Flipping to contacts, there was one number. Boss. She rolled her eyes and pushed call. </p><p>He picked up before the first ring ended. “Yo.”</p><p>“Crossing into Detroit in a few minutes. Where do you want me?”</p><p>There was a silence while her words lingered in the air and she felt that smirk popping up on his end of the line. “You gonna park it at one of my warehouses in Poletown East. You need directions?”</p><p>He assumed she’d never been to some of the rougher neighborhoods of Detroit before, despite where she lived now. It ain’t exactly like the warehouses he could use were in Bloomington Hills or some shit. “No, where in Poletown?”</p><p>He was brief with her, no shock there. “There’s a big warehouse, where Theodore St. dead ends across from the abandoned high school, between Farnsworth and W-.” He directed but she cut him off, all too familiar.</p><p>“Warren, yeah, I know it. I’ll be there in ten.”</p><p>He didn’t know how a lily white girl from the burbs was so familiar with the eastside of Detroit but he was gonna find out. Nothing about her made sense to him, unfamiliar territory. An enigma. “Alright then. You know the drill.” </p><p>The line ended and he stared down at the phone. “Your girl?” Mick grunted with too much of a smirk on his face for Rio’s liking. Most of his boys wouldn’t get away with this shit but Mick always knew exactly how to dance on his line.</p><p>“That was Elizabeth, I gotta go meet her.” He wasn’t gonna play wit him on semantics.</p><p>“I bet you do, Boss.” He chuckled, shaking his head and moving around the table to shoot one of Rio’s stripped balls into the corner pocket since he was out. He missed.</p><p>Rio shook his head in disappointment. “Maybe if you paid a lil more attention to your shot and less to who I’m meetin with you coulda made that one.” He was stern, which he rarely ever was with his first hand. </p><p>Mick shrugged, taking it less than personally. “Hey, I like the idea of you putting yourself out there.”</p><p>That ain’t what this was. “It’s work, that’s all. Go home.”</p><p>He wasn’t gonna argue with that and Rio knew it. The pole was hanging back on the wall and Mick was gone before he was. </p><p>On the other side of town, Elizabeth waited til she pulled off the exit ramp and noticed she was the only car around. She quickly got out, put the burner in front of the truck's front tire, got back in and rolled right over it. The rear view mirror showed it shattered in so many pieces it’d be hard to decipher it ever having been a phone in the first place. </p><p>The rest of her drive was uneventful. The side streets of the East Detroit were familiar territory and somehow put her at ease, even if it was one of the most notoriously baddest areas in all of Detroit.</p><p>As she drove up Warren Avenue she saw the city shambling before her and it broke her heart. One closed building, one dusty and cracked, the next completely boarded up. Then more boards, a check cashing place and a few Western Union’s solely lighting up the street. </p><p>She passed an old motel, the only letters still lit up “O-T-E,” and a flickering VACANCY sign below it, offering up colored tv and weekly stays as an incentive to stay. Other than that, you’d hardly know it was probably a once popular pullover place. The one tired car in the parking lot tipping her off, that and the old abandoned pool filled with lawn chairs and old charcoal grills that she had to imagine were fully functioning in the courtyard of the then-thriving motel in years past. </p><p>A few more churches in decent and desolet condition were on the left and right of her, and then the street turned residential. She u-turned familiarly onto Riopelle and then onto Theodore and saw the familiar black Cadillac parked in front of one of the industrial doors, leaving the spot in front of the other vacant.</p><p>Rio didn't appear to be sitting in his car or anywhere around so she pulled into the spot next to him and held the brake down with her extended leg before jerking the old truck up into park. The old, dented door creaked open and there she saw him, standing off to the side where he’d clearly hit the button to raise the door and is now ushering her forward to pull all the way in. </p><p>He used his hand to guide her, similar to what they do at the car wash so you pull up correctly on the belt. His lean hand flying up in a stop position and she leaned forward on the edge of her seat to stop and throw the truck into park. She grabbed her purse and jacket and then pulled the single key out of the ignition. When she hopped out she passed the keys over to Rio and shrugged. “That wasn’t so bad.”</p><p>He scoffed at her. “Darlin’, that ain’t the half of what we do around here. You drove a truck. That’s it.”</p><p>The lecture didn’t stop, although it sounded more like mumbling to himself than to her. “Do one job and think you’re big shit.” He chuckled, shaking his head in mocked annoyance, meanwhile flipping through his key ring for one specifically. “You ain’t shit.” Once he finds it he jiggles it into the old key lock holding the back of the truck closed and pushes it up. </p><p>All she saw were barrels. “What’s in there?” She speculated quietly, trying to peak around his shoulder quietly. “Cocaine? Heroin? Bud Light?”</p><p>“How many times I gotta tell you to stay in your lane?”</p><p>He didn’t have to be rude about it. “Don’t I deserve to know?”</p><p>“Go get in the car, Elizabeth.” He sighed, rolling a few of the barrels to a smaller room off the main floor of the warehouse. The truck was packed to the brim with barrels and it was going to be a bigger job than just he could do. She counted at least thirty of them before he shooed her away.</p><p>She rolled her eyes and turned to walk back to his car and wait for him like ordered. Although she turned around just in time to see what leaked out of one that was slightly broken when he pulled it off the truck. It smelled just like… maple syrup?</p><p>He sent a few quick texts off to his boys telling them to unload the truck within the next couple of hours and get it out of there and then headed out to his car to drive her home. Elizabeth was sitting petulantly in his front seat and he could tell she was trying not to talk to him. </p><p>The drive back to her place was quiet but not uncomfortable as he did nothing to let her feel comfortable enough around him to try her interrogation again. It was weird not getting Jane first on the way home, but she was staying with Ruby so Beth decided to bask in the newfound freedom, even if just for the night.</p><p>Her mind was racing, trying desperately to figure out why he was moving maple syrup across the Michigan-Ohio border. It was almost funny to her and she knew better than to ask him again. Honestly, she was just grateful to have their debt paid off. It felt relieving to know he wasn’t going to be bothering her anymore. But she also didn’t want all of this to end. Just moving a truck was the biggest rush she’d ever felt. Maybe she could ask to do more jobs, ones where now she could actually get paid. </p><p>“Do you want to stay for dinner tomorrow?” She asked him shyly, feeling him side eye her from his side of the car, unsure of where this was going. </p><p>“Just… as a thank you.” She said, ever quiet and of few words like usual. “For driving us, for the grocery store stops, and you know, as a thank you for not… killing me.” </p><p>He chuckled and shook his head. This woman. “Sure, I could do that.”</p><p>She nodded quietly and leaned forward to turn the radio on as if she had done it in his car countless times. He thought she was lucky he didn’t break her fingers. The sounds of NPR filled the air and she laughed. He was a complete enigma to her.</p><p>——————————————————</p><p>What exactly did gangsters eat? She didn’t have the slightest. Unless they just ate normal people food, like her. What she did know was that if she served him up some of the boxed macaroni and cheese crap that she usually ate, she’d never hear the end of it.</p><p>That’s how she ended up making her favorite comfort food, baked ziti. She threw in some of the day old bread she brought home from Fine &amp; Frugal and made garlic toast. Because he still hadn’t arrived, she started on a simple garden salad too. The simple old radio she had inherited from her grandmother played some old Motown music and she found herself at ease, slightly swaying her hips and singing along in hushed whispers while Jane giggled along. The music was coming in a little staticky but it always had been something she found relaxing to work in the kitchen alongside.</p><p>Jane was in rare form too and she figured that had something to do with the familiar music. Smiling and laughing, and of course insisting on being held, the one time she really wanted to focus on what she was doing in the kitchen. So here she stood, with a baby on her hip, bouncing up and down while trying to cut a cucumber mostly one handed when the knife missed the cucumber and bullseyed her finger.</p><p>“Ow! Mother fu—.” She cut herself off, before she could finish the full word. Blood was gushing out of her finger and she sprinted the two feet to the sink and set it under a steady stream of ice cold water. </p><p>Jane gasped and she knew what was coming. Loud screams and gushy tears falling out of her eyes, unsure at what had just happened to her mother and quite a lot terrified of it all. “Oh, it’s ok sweet girl, mama’s fine.” She cooed in her ear, just trying to settle her a little. </p><p>“Here, give her to me mami.” Rio reached for the little girl and Beth yelped, instinctively pulling Jane into her chest for safety. </p><p>Jane screamed louder and Rio’s eyes darted back and forth between the two girls before snatching a now reaching Jane out of Beth’s arms and pulling her softly into his chest for comfort. He started lightly bouncing up and down like Beth was just doing. </p><p>“Jesus. When did you even get here? You can’t just knock?”</p><p>Rio sighed. “I did knock, you were having too much fun to notice so I let myself in.”</p><p>She shook her head, “Well, knock louder next time. You just gave me a heart attack.”</p><p>“You could also start actually locking your deadbolt and I wouldn’t be able to pick the lock so easily. Ever think about that?” He chastises her for her carelessness out of his pure annoyance. It’d be one thing if it were just her but Jane was in here too, he’d think she’d be more concerned for their safety. There’s no jest in his voice and she hates him for it.</p><p>“Noted, Boss.” She snaps back at him sarcastically and pulls some neosporin out of the cupboard and then a bandaid. Rio is looking down at Jane who he managed to calm in a matter of seconds just by pulling into his solid arms. </p><p>“Mommy’s careless, isn’t she? Yes...she is.” He sighs, shaking his head down at Jane and Beth rages. Jane wraps her tiny hand around his long finger and Rio beams. She squeezes and he plays like he’s shocked he can’t pull his finger away. Jane grins like she got him. He can remember when she just slept the whole time he saw her and now she feels so strong in his arms and is more playful than ever. </p><p>“Dinner still has awhile. She was giving me a hard time so I got a late start, hope you’re not too hungry yet.” Beth forces herself to apologize and holds her arms back out for Jane. He shakes her off and goes to sit around on the couch with Jane in his lap. </p><p>“Giving mama a hard time? You? No way. You’re too sweet to ever cause any trouble ain’t ya?” He cooed at the little girl who was becoming sleepier by the second. There was no way she was being that bad, Elizabeth had to be full of it.</p><p>They both look at her eyes, suddenly drifting closed and her head bobbing up and down. They can tell she’s fighting to stay awake, the same thing she tries to do now every time Rio is around. He’s got her pulled into his chest and starts rubbing gentle circles across her back as if it wasn’t no thing to him. Usually his hands seem so rough and calloused, she can’t even imagine the pain he’s caused with them. But on Jane’s back, they look warm and gentle, strong and secure. The palm of his hand continues the easy circles, lulling her daughter into a full on slumber in his arms. </p><p>Before long, Jane’s tucked into his chest and snoring so he can’t help but chuckle. “She always snore like a bear?”</p><p>Beth blushes. “I don’t know where she gets it from.”</p><p>“It ain’t you?” He teases and when her blush somehow travels deeper across her face he knows he’s right.</p><p>Jane spits out a random hiccup in her sleep and they both look down in panic. Rio slightly panics, thinking she’s going to lose it again like she did that day in the store but instead her eyes just quickly drift shut again and her head falls back onto his shoulder. </p><p>They both laugh. Rio mumbles “close call,” down toward her and Beth agrees. The hiccups are usually Jane’s undoing. His large hard smooths over her back again, trying to ease the freight of those hiccups she hates and it takes up most of her back, she’s still so tiny. Especially in his arms which are solid and defined.</p><p>Among other small talk and after Beth’s zoned back in from his strongs arms and sturdy hands, she realizes he’s not going to kill her with Jane nestled into him. “So maple syrup? Really?”</p><p>His hand on Jane’s back stops and he looks up at her with disgust. “Really? Using this sweet little princesa as a shield?”</p><p>She bites that lower lip and grins at him, “and baked ziti.”</p><p>He shakes his head in mock disbelief. “Long story.”</p><p>“Ziti still has fifteen minutes and she’s not going to wake up any time soon. I can promise you that.”</p><p>She plays dirty and he finds it more endearing than he wants to. “Started off as a favor to someone, so I’d have one on them. But then I found out how much Canadien maple syrup is actually worth. You know that shit goes for $1,300 a barrel?”</p><p>Her jaw drops. “Seriously? What are you paying for it?”</p><p>He smirks. “Paying?”</p><p>Of course he wasn’t paying anything for it. He was shady as hell, no doubt flipped his game enough to know how to acquire so much of something for free. “If it’s from Canada, why’d I have to pick it up in Toledo?” She wonders, more than confused suddenly at the geographic route.</p><p>He looks her over, obviously deciding whether or not she can be trusted. “Got it from a guy in Vermont who brought it down with him on his way through.”</p><p>Honestly she never thought she’d even get this much from him so she quit while she was ahead. “I can’t believe you made me feel so covert for maple syrup.”</p><p>Rio chuckled. “You wanted to feel involved. I could tell. So I got you a burner.”</p><p>She digested what he said and wanted to fly at him in a fit of rage. ‘You’re an asshole, you know that? What she really wanted to do was punch him. Instead she pulled Jane out of his arms and gently took her into her room to place her in the crib. </p><p>When she came back out his arms were up in the air like he couldn’t figure out what her problem was and the smirk on his face infuriated her. She marched over to the kitchen and started throwing salad into a zip lock bag and then pulled the mostly cooked ziti out of the oven. </p><p>Once she found an old Tupperware container she took a big scoop of steaming hot ziti that was much too hot to be broken into just yet, dumped it inside, sealed the lid and threw it all in a plastic grocery sack. “Here you go. Get out.” </p><p>His jaw dropped and he was trying not to laugh. “Wait, what? You really gonna kick me out over this? I even forgave what you owed!” He laughed in disbelief, reaching for the plastic sack in her hands.</p><p>“It’s not about that. You’re a jerk. I don’t need the pity, thanks.”</p><p>He shook his head, laughing. “What about the garlic bread?” She growled.</p><p>Then she walked over to the counter, sliced off a big chunk and tossed it into the same plastic sack he was already holding open and looking down into, sans any kind of wrapping or butter. She didn’t give him no dressing for the salad either.</p><p>“Damn mama, that’s cold.” He laughed and tied the bag closed. </p><p>“Ain’t Jane gon miss me though?” He asked her, still laughing. “I know you ain’t. But I didn’t even get to say goodbye to her.”</p><p>Beth crossed her arms across her chest and shook her head, refusing to look at him. “I don’t think she’ll even know you’re gone. Bye Rio.”</p><p>He was cracking up. This woman. Ain’t no changin her mind either once she made it up. He leaned down and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. “Alright Elizabeth, you be that way. I’m gon pick you up for work in the morning though so try to work your shit out tonight, yeah?”</p><p>She pushed his face off hers, shoved him out the door and made a scene out of locking the deadbolt. He drove home shaking his head in amusement. At least she gave him dinner before kicking him out. He already missed both of them. Maybe he had gotten in too deep with them too soon because he looked up and saw Rhea’s photo sitting alone on his mantle and it all hit him like a ton of bricks. He realized he knew two things for sure. He loved a baby that wasn’t his and he was somehow forgetting about a woman that was.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh, shoutout on Rio’s hands specifically for @jade-Marie on tumblr. This is for you. Lol.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. That Creamy Peanut Butter Life</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Beth deals with an emergency. Rios helps.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I’m so sorry for taking so long! No excuses except I let this get entirely away from me. I hope this makes up for the wait.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nothing about this woman made sense to him. First, she stole from him, refused to take rides from him, and most recently, invited him over for dinner just to kick him out before they even ate. Now he woke up to a text from her asking an even bigger favor. How she managed to text him on that piece of shit flip phone she got for twenty bucks in the hood somewhere was beyond him. Before he could finish tryin’ to read that shit, he already knew he was gonna tell her yes and that was the worst part of it all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Elizabeth: Can you take Jane today? I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wasn’t really sure what to make of it. Figures something had to be wrong because she had to have other people she could ask before him, prolly a long line of them too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>On my way</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was barely 6am but it sounded urgent enough to head over right away, despite knowing it’s still a bit earlier than their usual morning pick up routine. The past few weeks they’d been goin’ a little later in the day cuz of Elizabeth’s schedule. Naturally he pushed back his whole day to accommodate, just didn’t feel like that was somethin’ she had to be privy to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The drive felt quick, probably because the rest of Detroit was still asleep. The snow was mostly melted down into dirty slush and puddles, no small feat for mid-January in the Mitten. He pulls up in front of her shabby place and sees the light on in her tiny kitchen. Elizabeth’s silhouette was pacin’ back and forth lookin’ somewhat too frantic for his liking. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By this point he knew all too well how to let himself in, that’s what he usually did anyhow, and it’s just habit by this point despite her bitchin’ about all the surprises.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Took you long enough!” she snapped at him as she pulled on that light pink puffy coat he loved, the one that made her ivory skin absolutely glow.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh ‘scuse me, darlin’. Didn’t realize I was on the clock.” he mumbles at her, eyes straining, trying to figure her out. “What’s your problem? Anxious to throw me out again?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Either she didn’t seem to pick up on his sarcasm or she just didn’t care - it could always go either way with her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They just rushed my sister into surgery to get her appendix out. Her boyfriend is home with Sadie and she’s up at Mercy all alone.” She was obviously frantic, and he figures he would be too if it were one of his sisters. You can bet he’d be up there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about it. I got you, trust me.” He wanted to assure her she could lean on him for this. Somethin’ about her made him want to be there, found himself tryin’ to be present in a way that felt completely foreign to him otherwise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She gave him a hard stare and he figured she was sizin’ him up, deciding if he can be trusted all day with Jane and whatnot. She finally relents, “Alright. I appreciate you coming right over so fast. Thank you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He just found himself shrugging back at her. “You should go, ma. We’ll be alright, promise.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a slight hesitation on his part, figurin’ this was probably about to start a fight. He just couldn't be bothered to care. “Before you go, got you this.” He pulls a new iPhone out of his other pocket and hands it to her. He bought it the day after he saw her tryin’ to text in his car on that shitty burner. She was T9-ing and he had all kinds of PTSD flashbacks from that shit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If he was in a better mood, he probably would’ve laughed at the look on her face. He could tell she was gonna need a little help with this one, the way she was starin’ down at it in her hands and shit, lookin’ back up at him completely mystified. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s a cell phone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She rolls her eyes. “I got that, thanks.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What part you havin’ trouble with then?” It had more sarcasm than he cared for. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why do I need another burner?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now he crossed over into annoyance. “It ain’t a burner. It’s a phone. On a plan. For you to keep.” He understood what her problem was, she assumed it was for a job like the last one was that he made her use.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because I don’t want you livin’ here alone wit a baby, not havin’ a reliable phone for emergencies.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t need you to buy me a phone. I get by just fine with the one I have.” she argues, trying to pass it back to him and waving her shitty burner around at him in her other hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah.” he dismisses her, knowing full well how pissed it was gonna make her but not findin’ the will to care.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The look she gave him had enough fire behind it to set entire cities ablaze. He knew better than to lock eyes with her again, they both felt on edge. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They didn’t exactly know much about each other in the long run, but he knew she never had anyone takin’ care of her. From what she told him before about her ex, she’d basically been on her own the whole time, and that she was gonna stop with him. Wasn’t like he thought she couldn’t take care of herself; fact is that was probably what drew him to her the most. Didn’t mean he couldn’t help her here and there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ll talk about this later.” she warned him, and he knew that the conversation wasn’t close to being over. He was on the verge of snappin’ himself, figured of course she’s gotta bring all that bitch ass drama of hers into it. Instead he gave her a simple, conclusive nod and watched her sneak out the front door to get on her way. He felt himself relax, knowing nothing’s wrong with either of his girls and that-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wait</span>
  <em>
    <span>, his girls?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stopped immediately - that was new. And not exactly true, despite how much his heart was screaming for it. Denial had always worked just great for him, until now at least.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He popped his head into Elizabeth’s room to see Jane tucked in and still sleeping cosily in her crib, so he took his shoes off and relaxed on the couch, (which is, in an unsurprising turn of events, the most uncomfortable couch he’s ever sat on) thought about how he needed to get her a new couch, some other stuff for the apartment, stuff for Jane. Then decided to pull his phone out and give some orders to the crew for the day and texted Mick instead, figurin’ it wasn’t even worth the trouble at the moment. Besides Jane, all she raised was hell.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Tied up for a bit. You in charge today. Get all the drops done and stop by new warehouse to see how things are going. Report back. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mick started typing back right away so he waited for his response. Everything was easier having Mick as his number two just knowin’ shit would get done.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>First, he sent a thumbs up reaction to Rio’s orders. Then, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Everything ok?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Figured he should’ve seen that one coming and knew Mick well enough to know he meant with him, not work. The last time he pushed work off so unexpectedly like this was on Rhea’s birthday and it was almost two weeks later before he finally forced himself to come in again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>All good</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He waited and eventually saw that the message was delivered and read, with no response, so they were good.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally having a second alone in her apartment, he stopped to really look around, take it in. If he was bein’ real honest with himself, he tried not to look around too closely when he was quickly in and out - mostly because the whole place was so damn depressing to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The cupboards weren’t all that surprising, bare and empty, just like he assumed they would be. There were a few generic boxes of mac and cheese, a box of generic Cheerios, some flour and sugar. A classic jar of creamy Jif peanut butter tucked away to the side… a staple of any cupboard. Feels thankful she ain’t one of those chunky peanut butter people, he wasn’t about that life. He opened the refrigerator door and took note of some strawberries, just a few basic condiments in the bottom, and a frozen pizza and frozen dinner up top.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Jesus Christ, this is sad</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Didn’t matter how much he tried to figure her out or figure out what already had him wrapped around her finger, when she should be the one on the hook with him still, he just couldn’t. Couldn’t seem to figure out how she was such an anomaly of everything he thought he could have known about her, from that very first moment they locked eyes at that market. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He walked back to her bedroom to check on Jane. When he opened the door, he saw those familiar big blue eyes open staring up at him and she was really cheesin’ hard for him. If he was real with himself, he figured he was probably doin’ the same. Her pale, chunky arms wiggling out towards him and he knows she wants to be scooped up. So that’s what he did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey lil mama. Whatchu doin’ up so early?” he asks her, holding her right in the center of his chest to greet her. It felt like it’d been so damn long since he’d last seen her, but in reality, it’d only been a couple of weeks. She was growing like a weed, every time he saw her, she was doing something new.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wide awake, huh?” he chuckled, gently rubbing her cheek with the back of his finger. As he laid her on the changing table next to her crib, he sighed, reflecting on the choices he’d made which lead him here. Changing diapers at the asscrack of dawn.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He changed her fairly easily, appreciating the fact that she didn’t leave him anything too nasty. She was always leaving those bombs for Elizabeth and he didn’t want no part of it. She didn’t fight him too much on any of it, so he counted his blessings. Moved her over to his hip and instinctively started rubbing her back, like he knew she liked. Her little head nestled against him easily.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Realistically, he knew he shouldn’t have allowed himself to get so close to Jane and Elizabeth. Ain’t healthy at all to be tryin to replace his child with someone else’s if that’s what this was. He just got so invested so fuckin’ fast from that first time Elizabeth left Jane with him at the grocery store. Skip to now, only months later and now he’s skipping work to babysit? What the fuck?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sighed at the thought. “Good thing I got your seat in the Wagon. Wanna run some errands with me?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She beamed at him and her smile grew, them dimples of hers stealing his heart all over again. “Yeah, thought ya might.” he laughed and went into Elizabeth’s room to get her ready. Her closet was immaculate. Nothin’ out of place. No more than a quarter of it appeared to be Elizabeth’s and the rest of it was full of neatly lined onesies and other baby clothes of Jane’s. Shoulda known.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One outfit looked particularly familiar to him, thought maybe Jane was wearing it the last time he saw them. Hopefully it still fit her. Even found her one of those cute matching headbands with a big ol’ bow on her head like Elizabeth liked to use. There was no denyin’ the fact that she was one of the cutest babies he’d ever seen. Her eyes and lil’ expressions always seemed to catch him off guard, she was lookin’ more like Elizabeth everyday with every face she made.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He set Jane down in her highchair and pulled a chair for himself right in front of it, sitting in it backwards and facing her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Whatchu eatin’ right now?” he asked her seriously, as if she would casually answer back with her favorite breakfast food. The only thing he could recall was Elizabeth just starting to feed her solid foods last time it came up. Somethin’ about her throwin’ peas all over the place which gave him a good chuckle.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Omelette?” he asked her, smirking. She shook her head and grinned like she knew he was being silly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ok, ok. How ‘bout some...eggs benny?” he joked and she giggled at him, shaking her head again like she simply couldn’t believe his audacity, or that she even had an opinion on breakfast foods at all, at just eight months old.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I got it.” he nodded seriously, jumping up and opening the cupboard from earlier. “How ‘bout some of these, lil lady?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She squealed and threw her hands up toward the bright yellow box in his hands. He came over and poured a good amount in front of her. She started pinching them effortlessly, one at a time to eat, cheesing the entire time she plopped them into her mouth. Maybe he was onto somethin’ here.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He found some cut up strawberries in the fridge and scooped a few onto her tray with a small sippy cup of milk. Then he decided he should pack a few items up for the time they’d be away and stuffed them into her usual diaper bag to take along. He sat back in front of her to wait for her to finish eating. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He picked up a Cheerio and popped it in his mouth without thinking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You already tried this one out didn’t ya?” he grimaced, pulling the soggy Cheerio out of his mouth while she giggled back at him. It was his favorite sound in the world and it scared him just how much a simple giggle from her could make his heart flutter. It fixed him, like suddenly nothing else inside him hurt anymore. Felt like it taped his heart back together some days.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once she eventually finished eating, or playing with the food seemed more accurate, he tried to clean her up. Didn’t know how a small lil thing like her could make such a huge mess with some Cheerios and fruit, but she did it. It was beyond him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Should have fed you first, then dressed you. That’s on me.” he chuckled and wiped her off and figured they were as good to go as ever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They settled into the G-Wagon and headed down to Lucky’s just on the other side of town. There were a few of his books he wanted to take with him back to Elizabeth’s to work up and go over some numbers. Figured they’d prolly just be hanging out most of the day, no point in not gettin’ anything done while she naps. He also wanted to be there for a delivery comin’ in this morning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When they got there, he scooped Jane up on his hip and dropped her flowery diaper bag over his shoulder. He beeped the locks on the G-Wagon and went inside. Mick was coming out of his office with a set of keys.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mornin’ Boss.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sup.” Rio greeted him, knowing he needed to pick up the keys to cover for him today and should’ve figured they might have crossed paths. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked at Jane and raised his chin, </span>
  <em>
    <span>who’s this? </span>
  </em>
  <span>He asked Rio without actually asking Rio.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rio looked down at the shy little girl whose head was nestled into his shoulder, desperately tryin’ to escape the eyes of the scruffy stranger across from her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is Jane. She’s a lil shy around new people. Aren’t ya, lil lady?” he cooed down at her, rubbing her cheek with his finger, like he did so often. It was their little sign that everything was gonna be ok and whenever he did that she seemed to instinctively relax.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mick didn’t say anything and looked a bit befuddled. Rio coughed slightly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Elizabeth’s daughter.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His eyebrows shot up, eyes darted back and forth between Jane and Rio. Rio could see his brain processin’.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, that Elizabeth.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was no shortage of questions on Mick’s face but none he actually asked him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nice purse.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rio looked down at the pink bag he forgot he was carrying and rolled his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s a diaper bag, man.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mick chuckled, shaking his head. Rob, the guy he left mostly in charge of Lucky’s interrupted whatever dumbass comment Mick was about to make.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Boss, delivery’s here if you want to check it out while you’re here. Or I can get it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mick held out his arms, “Here, I got a few minutes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rio hesitated and looked down at Jane who still shied away from Mick.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll be right back, ok? Promise.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He passed her over to Mick who swiped her up into his arms no problem. He didn’t have kids yet but bein’ cousins they had a million babies in the family, and he knew Mick was one of the best all of them. He chuckled as Mick’s face instantly softened and made a few faces at Jane who looked like she was trying to decide if she was going to giggle or scream. Knowin’ her it could go either way at any time. He tried to back away silently while she was deciding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rio turned around but didn’t get far enough to miss her gasp. He turned back to see those lil eyes filled with big ol’ crocodile tears and she wailed for him, turned around and reachin’ out and shit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll be right back.” he chuckled and shook his head. Elizabeth really needed to bring her around more people. He thought maybe this would help. It wasn’t lost on Rio, the hold Jane had over him. That he was instantly back at her side, grabbing her little foot and tickling it to try and calm her down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her blue eyes opened wide again when she noticed him turn to walk away. He watched her carefully, just hopin’ with that the next blink didn’t come with a bunch of fresh tears. Luckily that wasn’t the case. He looked at Mick who wasn’t bothered by it at all, just bouncing her lightly in his arms like he’d seen the guy do with their nieces and nephews so many times before. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the time he got a few steps back to the dock he heard a loud screech and just knew her lil face was all red and she was in there givin’ Mick hell. He could just vaguely hear Mick tryin’ to comfort her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Aw come on, he’ll be right back. He ain’t goin’ nowhere.” He chuckled, listenin’ to the sounds of Mick tryin’ to appease her in the background.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I ain’t that bad, am I? I know, I look scary.” Rio laughed at Mick’s question, shakin’ his head at the whole turn of events.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He finished checking the delivery and the invoices as quickly as he could. Everything seemed to be going as they’d planned, and they even delivered two days early, couldn’t really see ask for more than that. He finished and went back inside a few minutes later to see one of his other guys, Eddie, holding Jane up in the air and watching her giggle down at him wildly. Rio shot him a look, then turned his attention to Mick, who was typin’ some sort of novel out on his phone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You gotta hold her head man, what’s wrong with you?” he snapped, snatching Jane out of his arms and back into the safety of his own. He was good with Mick, but he didn’t know Eddie for shit. Eddie threw his hands up in easy surrender and Mick eyed him warily. No doubt he was trying to digest some of whatever the fuck just happened.</span>
</p>
<p><span>Rio knew he was gonna hear about it later, but he didn’t really give a shit at the moment.</span> <span>He just continued to shake his head in disbelief at the kid in front of him.</span></p>
<p>
  <span>“Get the fuck outta here man. Whatchu think I pay you for?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eddie knew not to push him and backed away. “I’ll be out in the car.” Mick nodded. Wasn’t like he didn’t know Eddie was a harmless kid, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>still</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mick gave Rio another long stare and shook his head at him laughin’. He felt about ten seconds away from kickin’ Mick’s ass too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once they were back at the house, he put Jane down for a short nap and finished up his paperwork he brought back. He tidied up around her apartment, checked on Jane, and then snooped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’s only human.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>First, he found his way over to the kitchen and pulled open a few drawers. Thought it wasn’t his fault she’d been a closed book and basically forced his hand at peekin’. Had to learn somethin’ about her, after all, and she only ever gave him the bare minimum.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The only things he found were pages and pages of coupons, cut out and neatly clipped together, and a standard junk drawer that kinda made his skin crawl. The other drawer held a small book made of soft purple fabric and some sort of calligraphy that read “Baby’s First Year” on the front. He wanted to open it, wanted to see everything about her that maybe he didn’t know yet or missed. Something in him told him it was too far. It wasn’t his place. No matter how much he wanted it to be.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The book was similar to the one that sat dusty and unused in the abandoned corner of his loft. After that day he pushed almost everything that was there, everything that reminded him of them, into that forgotten corner and hadn’t been back to sort through it since. Didn’t mean he didn’t see that book they were planning on filling just sittin’ there waiting for them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It haunted him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sometimes it was the only thing he saw, though lately it felt like he was seeing it less and less. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The one in his hands felt lighter in every sense of the word. The bright colors of it easily foiled the heavy gray and blues of the dusty, abandoned one he had at home. He couldn’t help but think maybe it was time to unpack it, time to start fresh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried to process everything that happened. Actually, he felt like that was all he ever did. There were the days he couldn’t seem to escape thinkin’ about it, no matter how hard he tried; the ones when the pain felt too much to bear. Then some days he felt guilty for almost not think’ about them at all. Either way, no matter how he looked at it, it felt like somethin’ that needed help bein’ unpacked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They spent the day lounging around her place. He spent more time than he cared to admit trying to get her to say ‘Rio’ for him, though he knew it was probably a lost cause.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A set of squishy blocks sat unused in one of the corners of the living room. Because, of course, Elizabeth didn’t have a real phone, but she had blocks for Jane.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You wanna play with your blocks?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He scooped her up into his arms and set her down in front of him on the living room floor alongside the blocks. She mostly sat up on her own but was still a little wobbly, so he supported her with a couple of the throw pillows from the couch. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She watched him curiously as he built half a tower before she seemed to realize she could throw the blocks at it to knock it down. Every time he just about had it up for her she would knock it over again and giggle endlessly at her path of destruction.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You ain’t nothin’ but trouble. It’s in your blood, ain’t it?” he mumbled, teasing her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mama!” she yelled at him and his eyebrows shot up. He hadn’t heard her say it yet. Had she been saying it? Is this new? Elizabeth wasn’t even around.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All he wanted to do was call Elizabeth and then remembered she was busy, so he pulled his phone out to record it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Say it again, come on darlin’.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shook her head ‘no’ as if she actually understood him and was flat out refusin’, Elizabeth’s kid for sure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come on Jane, what did you just say? Say it for mama?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She continued to hold out on him, and he just about put his phone back away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mama!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He grinned endlessly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There it is.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually he ended the video and started a new one. “Can you say, ‘Rio’? Ri-o.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dada!” she screamed at him effortlessly and he stopped in his tracks, the phone forgotten and dropped to the floor.</span>
</p>
<p><span>“Rio, I’m Rio.”</span> <span>He scooped her up and pulled her into his lap. “Rio. Can you say Rio?”</span></p>
<p><span>“Dada, dada!” She grinned up at him and he knew Elizabeth was gonna have a stroke.</span> <span>He tried to move on from it, maybe she’d forget.</span></p>
<p><span>They had lunch and laid down for a nap on the couch. He figured he might as well rest his eyes a bit too, seein’ as how he didn’t have anything else to do in her sad ass apartment while Jane napped.</span> <span>Jane had hardly put up a fight and he felt himself drifting off too.</span></p>
<p>
  <span>She was in his arms and he didn’t mind it one bit, seein’ as how she’d already grown about double in size since he first met her. They’d come a long way since he saw them all bundled up on that frigid winter night treckin’ across Detroit. The moments were slippin’ away from him. Before he knew it they were both out cold.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, that was when Elizabeth must have walked in. He felt himself being jolted awake by some sort of flash, quickly looking up in a mix of confusion and panic, and then back down at the sleeping baby in his arms who hadn’t felt a thing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re back.” he mumbled hoarsely, slowly sitting up and repositioning himself back into the cushions of the couch. Jane was still nestled warmly in his arms and lightly snorin’ away. Time had evaded him, felt like he was passed out for hours.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I didn’t want to leave you here all day, but I needed to make sure Annie was ok. How was she?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He saw her set his phone casually back down on her coffee table like she didn’t just snap a picture knowin’ it’d piss him off. Usually it would, he just didn’t find himself mindin’ all that much this time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked down at Jane, slowly patting down her hair that was a little messy from her sleep and rubbing her back gently to keep her asleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She was perfect.” He felt so warm and a little groggy from the nap, must have really been knocked out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Elizabeth beamed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She usually is.” He watched as Elizabeth reached into his arms to rub her cheek softly with the back of her finger, much like he remembered doing so many times before himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The grin on her face when she talked about Jane melted his heart. Goosebumps erupted up his arms when he thought about the things she’d already done for her, the mountains she’d already moved for the little girl in his arms all on her own. Everything about her had him completely stupid over her.</span>
</p>
<p><span>“Mami, when you gonna let me take you out?”</span> <span>He watched her stop, stiffen, and process. “You know I’m here because of you, right?”</span> <span>He couldn’t argue that he was quickly growing attached to Jane, to being in her life, but it was all because of Elizabeth. “You think I let just anyone off when they steal from me like that?”</span></p>
<p>
  <span>There it was, that bottom lip action he loved. It pulled up between her teeth for purchase and he waited. A deep blush spread up her cheeks and he could tell she felt it all too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I just thought you were smitten with Jane.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked down at her in his arms again and he noticed her shiver. Instinctively, he found himself tucking her purple lil blanket tightly around her, cocooning her in the cosy warmth, his hand taking up her entire back. He couldn’t help but smirk when he noticed Elizabeth clocking the same thing, as his instinct took over and he softly rubbed her back, the action soothing to all of them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can’t really argue with you there, ma. I don’t usually take a full day off work to babysit if you couldn’t tell.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Ain’t that the truth.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She laughed at him, like she hardly considered it to be just babysitting and to be honest he didn’t either.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let me take you out.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why would you even want to date me?” she questioned, letting her hair fall down more in front of her face. He noticed how easily she let it cover her face, a physical representation of the block she’d built around herself. His fingers itched to reach up, tuck it away, see those eyes blinking warmly back at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You serious?” His mind flashed to the image of her dumbass ex he had conjured in his mind. He was beating his blurry face into the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded. She really didn’t seem to understand, and nothin’ irked him more. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fine</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thinks, they could do this.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You ever notice the way this lil girl looks at you?” He motioned to the sleeping angel cozied up in his arms. “Like you hung the sun, the moon, and all them stars up in the sky. She ain’t even a year old yet and you already moved mountains for her. You got this dumbass sister and that best friend of yours, that always seem to depend on you for shit you barely even have yourself, and you wouldn’t have it no other way. Then you got this big ol’ heart and half the time you’re just out there tryin’ to hold it all together and doin’ it all alone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her eyes glazed over with those tears he hated to see. Shit, that was the last thing he wanted to do.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Look, I’m just sayin’ that I might know what that’s like, to have to be the strong one and maybe you don’t have to do it all alone anymore. You and me, we’re more alike than you might think, ma.”</span>
</p>
<p><span>Someday soon he’d tell her everything, all about growing up and having to take care of his mom and sisters, about Rhea, and about Marcus... Just not today.</span> <span>Silence was thick between them as he watched her process the things he was sayin’.</span></p>
<p><span>“Look, I know. All you want to do is take care of things on your own like you been doin’, keep bein the boss that you are, and I don’t wanna get in the way of that. But you don’t gotta do everythin’ on your own anymore.”</span> <span>She sniffled and he openly sighed. Didn’t exactly feel like this was goin’ in the right direction but felt like his moment was ‘now or never’.</span> <span>“That a yes?”</span></p>
<p>
  <span>She bit that bottom lip and he knew she was gonna say yes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know anything about you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t argue with that, hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with anything. Didn’t mean he wasn’t plannin’ on letting her in, eventually, though. None of this baggage was light and she didn’t exactly need to be burdened with it all. </span>
</p>
<p><span>“You know I’m a banger, know I’m the boss, right?” he teased.</span> <span>“You know what I mean.” She wasn’t having it, he could tell.</span> <span>“I’ll let you in, I promise. This line of work ain’t really meant for transparency, ya know?”</span></p>
<p>
  <span>She seemed to accept that, and he appreciated it. At the end of the day he felt they understood each other in a way he never felt before, not with Rhea, not with anyone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you get a sitter tomorrow?” He didn’t want to have to wait, he felt like he waited long enough. Wanted her all to himself. Ached for her actually.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was hesitant at first but nodded and met his eyes with a grin he only seen on her face once or twice before. It suited her. He looked down at Jane in his arms and nodded over to her bedroom, a silent gesture to say that he was going to settle her in bed. He took Jane into her room and set her down in her crib, tucking her in to finish out her nap. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he came back Elizabeth was learning against the kitchen counter waiting for him. Her hair was down for once and wavy, landing just in the middle of her back. The rose gold color, he’d call it, glimmered in the light of the window behind her and she looked almost angelic to him. Her skin was so soft, he felt a pull in him to reach out and touch it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had on those tight black leggings he found himself daydreamin’ about more times than not and a long comfy sweater he wanted to tuck himself inside of with her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t help but eye her from top to bottom, somethin’ he tried to keep himself from doin’ most days. There was no stoppin’ him anymore, so he stepped toward her, crowding her against the cold counter behind her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked up at him so quizzically it almost made him laugh. Before she could ask him what he was doing he snuck one arm around her waist pulling her tightly into his arms. He looked down at her and wound his other hand tightly in her long hair, forcing her to look up at him to meet his eyes and she did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like your hair long like this.” he whispered, running his hands through the soft golden locks. The few pictures he had seen of her she always had shoulder length hair. Didn’t mind that either but was just somethin’ about it like this. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They held eye contact as her face flushed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You do?’</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Couldn’t help but bite his bottom lip again at the way she sounded, so fuckin’ sexy in his arms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mhmm...gives me somethin’ so hold on to.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sound of her gulp didn’t escape him either, confirmation that she was just as affected by his presence as he was by hers, the entire moment so entirely sensual he felt intoxicated.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All he could smell was the scent of her sweet shampoo and he was addicted. When their lips finally met, his heart fluttered rapidly in his chest and he felt dizzy. He shuddered when she immediately melted into his arms, letting him kiss her the way he’d been wanting to for so long.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he finally pulled away, she gasped. He was breathless, just tryin’ to catch up after breaking away. But everythin’ in him ached to kiss her again, so he did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Mmm</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she whimpered into his mouth while he licked down into hers. His hands suddenly felt drawn to the soft outline of her curves, itched to trace them round and round. He found himself breakin’ his lips away, just to move into that nook of her neck that was calling his name, desperately tuck away himself in there. His hands started wrapped gently around her lower back, quickly finding their way down to her ass in a way that made them both groan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pulled away just far enough to rest his forehead against hers and growl into her ear to break the silence. The way she was heaving under his hold went straight to his dick and he felt her goosebumps erupt across her arms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t forget Jane’s overnight bag tomorrow. She gonna need it.” His hand came down hard right on the back of her ass and she yelped up into him. When he backed up enough to give her a quick kiss and turn away, she was staring up at him, wide-eyed and speechless. “See you tomorrow, yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you to everyone for reading, to my favorite pain-in-the-ass beta Jade, and to my other fellow ggs friend for ridiculing me constantly until this chapter actually happened.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Fully Loaded</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>All of the things this chapter with Beth and Rio. Rating bump.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Rating bump.</p><p>Also, *huge* thank you to my beta @jade-marie. As always.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>He knew the minute he saw them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The florist was overflowing with flowers and leafy plants and whatnot, but the only ones he could imagine buying for her were the pink and white peonies. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The peonies are a classic.” The older woman smiled warmly up at him, gesturing down to the fluffy pink ones he couldn’t stop starin’ at. They were makin’ him feel some type of way, </span>
  <em>
    <span>she was makin’ him feel some type of way</span>
  </em>
  <span>.Somehow she made him feel all the things he always thought he should’ve felt the first time around but didn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Couldn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just bein’ in her presence made his heart flutter in a way that didn’t feel safe. It was the way he found every damn excuse in the book to cart her and that kid around the city; to get close enough for her just envelop him with that warm, sugary scent she radiated all the fuckin’ time. How being around her - shit, even thinkin’ about her -  sent him into a fuckin’ dreamlike state that was probably gonna get him killed someday. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he felt himself dead set on ignorin’ that part of his brain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The old woman stood there waitin’ on him like she knew exactly what he was thinkin’ - and she probably did. Probably saw this kind of thing all the time, damn butterflies evadin’ every last one of his senses. He gazed at her and noticed she was exactly the same type of old woman he pictured working in a shop like this. Short, curly, gray hair he figured she got done at the beauty shop every week, just like his own grandmother, pink lipstick, and an old terry cloth apron with the name Carol’s Cuts embroidered on it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re real nice. You must be Carol?” He grinned, full and boyish, down at her - knowing full well that a good enough smile would make her forget all about the bird adorning his throat. It always did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She blushed immediately. “Oh yes. That’s me. Who are you shopping for today?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Got a first date tonight, need somethin’ real nice. Was thinking about these.” he gestured back down to the peonies. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“First date, is that right? Must be a special girl for you to stop in. Let me show you some of our roses too. Tell me about her.” she motioned for him to follow her as she led the way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t exactly know where to start, definitely couldn’t give her all the details of how they actually met.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Met her through work. Kinda started off rough but we became friends of sorts first. Now I gotta lock it down before I get stuck in friendzone, ya know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course. No one wants to be in the friendzone.” the older lady chuckled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She also got this baby girl she raises on her own. I don’t know how she does it. Just wanna get her somethin’ nice.” He internally rolled his eyes at himself, didn’t know how this girl made him so soft already.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They arrived at the wide array of roses arranged by color in large, clear refrigerators along the south wall of the store. They were all </span>
  <em>
    <span>nice</span>
  </em>
  <span> flowers, but none of them gave him that same feelin’ the pink ones did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can do a mix of colors if you’d like, or the peonies you were looking at are a great option too. I think she’d like either.” she smiled back easily. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“These roses are all real nice, I’ll probably try these next time. Think I’m gonna go with those first ones though, somethin’ bout them just reminds me of her.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded then immediately got to work, cutting and styling them into a tight short bouquet wrapped and bound at the stems, as he watched on with quiet curiosity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You might as well set up an account while you’re here instore, seems like you might be starting a bit of a habit.” she grinned and pushed the short form toward him along with a half sharpened pencil from the counter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whatchu mean?” he popped an eyebrow, noticing that the form was for an account at the store to hold a card on file.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She seems special.” the older lady whispered and slipped in one of those lil’ winks older people did. He gave in and filled out the form.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The drive to her place was goin’ so damn slow he found himself getting jumpy, like was waitin’ for a fix somethin’. Maybe that’s exactly what she was to him, his fix. All he wanted to do was see her, kiss her, hold her hand… </span>
  <em>
    <span>what? Hold her hand?</span>
  </em>
  <span> What the fuck did she do to him?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It ain’t like he needed to be so excited. It was just Elizabeth. Right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he knocked on her door she answered right away and he realized maybe, </span>
  <em>
    <span>just maybe, </span>
  </em>
  <span>she was as excited as him. He beamed as she was practically bouncin’ on the spot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked like a damn angel. Her strawberry hair was all glowin’ and fuckin’ perfect, takin’ every last bit of energy he had not to bury his face in it, convince her they didn’t need to go out. That maybe after all this time, what they really needed to do was just stay in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi.” she whispered, the blush sweepin’ over her pale skin not lost on him. Hell, it was one of his favorite things about her. He itched to feel it, watch it up close, as it flushed across her body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi.” he cheesed back, couldn’t help but groan at the sight of her. Felt his eyes droppin’ down her body to take it all in, inch by fuckin’ inch. The more he saw of her, the shorter this date was gettin’ in his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He clocked the exact moment she caught him starin’ but he couldn’t find it in him to care. She was wearing some kinda plain, dark green dress with short sleeves, the material clinging to every perfect curve. Just a small gap between the hem and a pair of long, black, velvety lookin’ boots with a high heel that went up to just above her knees. They made her legs go on for </span>
  <em>
    <span>days</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was only once he realized he was gettin’ awfully close to skipping the date altogether that he finally shook himself out of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Brought you these.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gasped, pulling them into her hands, leaning in to smell them. Her blush matched the exact shade of pink - maybe that’s what was so familiar ‘bout them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t have to do that.” she assured him, the look on her face telling him that it wasn’t true at all - he’d never seen this quiet, almost meek, woman look so fuckin’ giddy before. So he just rolled his eyes and watched her make room for them on her small kitchen table, scoopin’ up all those new coupons and throwin’ them back in the drawer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They headed out not too long after.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So what are we going to do tonight?” she asked him, breaking the short veil of silence on the road. He couldn’t stop thinkin’ about those legs, couldn’t find any other words in his vocabulary other than </span>
  <em>
    <span>so long</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and maybe so fucking sexy.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thought we might go practice shooting like you’ve been talking about. Get somethin’ to eat. Take you home… get you outta that dress.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She blushed again and he </span>
  <em>
    <span>loved </span>
  </em>
  <span>it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Be good.” she laughed, he pulled her hand up into his. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good’s no fun.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t long before they arrived at the indoor range, a place tucked between an old dive bar and a pawn shop on the eastside of Detroit. It was the perfect place to teach her the basics of handlin’ a firearm and anything she should know to go along with that. He grabbed his bag out of the back with their supplies and they headed inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You gonna start with a .22 and we’ll go from there.” he told her, while they focused on gettin’ all signed in. They both signed a few waivers and he paid the fees. Eventually, they made their way back to the actual range itself which was surprisingly empty compared to the last time he was there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Facing an entire wall full of target silhouettes, untarnished and ready for them to destroy, they made their way up to the shooting line partition where he laid out her .22, ammo, as well as goggles and ear protection for their safety.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m kinda nervous.” Elizabeth admitted and he laughed, even melted a little bit at the way she anxiously gnawed on her lip. He turned, faced her and gently slid the safety goggles onto her face. She looked so fuckin’ adorable he got chills.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You ain’t gotta be. You in good hands, remember?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Knowin’ her, she was probably gonna be a natural anyway. He took the gun apart as they chit-chatted about the range and she looked around taking it all in - figured the best way to start was to let her put it together herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright. I’m going to give you an overview of the gun itself. You have to know the way it works, in order to be comfortable holding it, and successful using it. Make sense?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded and he could tell she was listenin’ intently, doin’ that thing where her blue eyes were open wide, blinkin’ slowly at everything he said like she didn't wanna miss a single word. Clingin’ on to it all entirely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, makes sense.” she nodded, eyeing the pistol in front of her carefully. Committing it to her memory. Studyin’ it like she was stressin’ about some pop quiz he was gonna throw at her when they were all done. Made him wish they went to school together. He just knew he would’ve had an absolute fuckin’ field day, pickin’ on her til she screamed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He picked the pistol up and then started showing her the parts, one by one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Most important piece of this entire outfit is the safety and it’s right here. On and off, see?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elizabeth nodded, puttin’ her finger over his to flick it on and off, like he showed her. He felt like he had to forcibly blink his eyes away just to try and settle into some inkling of focus - if for no other reason than to avoid blowin’ a hole through one of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You got the general frame, the magazine we got right here and the slide on top.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gently took the frame from him, holdin’ the damn thing like it was on fire. Took everything in him not to burst out laughin’. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Slides my favorite part. Ya know why?” he grinned, watchin’ the wheels turn as she tries to work out what’s so special about it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. Why?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He laughed. “Cuz nine times out of ten all ya gotta do is slide it once and pullin’ the trigger ain’t even necessary. Point made. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Never </span>
  </em>
  <span>forget the power in the slide.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She rolled her eyes, even shook her head at him a bit, before smirking back. It gave him that feelin’, the one he got when he knew something was gonna happen, deep in his gut. This one was telling him she was gonna be </span>
  <em>
    <span>his </span>
  </em>
  <span>boss someday.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pointed to the magazine sitting on the counter in front of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is where you gonna load the clip. See how It’s fully loaded? You want to feel it? Try pickin’ it up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She slowly picked it up, holdin’ the frame in one hand and the magazine in the other, both as if they were made of poison or some shit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s heavy.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, you ain’t gotta be scared. Safety is on, remember?” She nodded at his words, digesting everything he had to say, until eventually she pulled both parts deeper into her grasp, tryin’ to hold them like they weren’t made of lava. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Full clip’ll add a pound. Somethin’ to always keep in mind. Feel about right?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I feel it.” she replied, gulping down her anxiety.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A’ight good. Now the whole thing is held together by pins and springs that do certain things. But we gonna have you load the magazine and we’ll lock it in. Sound good?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He waited for her nod and started giving the rest of the instructions, trying not to get completely flustered at the way she looked holdin’ his piece. Couldn’t seem to understand if this was some weird new gun kink he’d suddenly developed, or somethin’ more Elizabeth-specific.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rio? What do I do now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He coughed, tryin’ everything in his power to shake himself out of it. Only problem was, it felt like a hundred butterflies were flyin’ loose inside him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go ‘head and slide it in. You’ll hear a click when it’s locked.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He watched her slide the magazine in, more gracefully than most his guys that’d been doin’ it half their lives. Maybe she’s a natural after all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Perfect. How you make it look so easy?” he teased. She giggled, shakin’ him off, and clicking the safety back on. Just how he showed her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They went through the rest of the pins and springs until the piece was entirely back together, locked and loaded in her hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That wasn’t so bad!” She was actin’ all proud of herself and he’d be lyin’ if he said it wasn’t doin’ things for him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You did good. You’re a faster learner.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She bit that lip and it completely jolted him, made his cock twitch a little every time he saw it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have a good teacher.” she fired back at him, shrugging nonchalantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He grunted at the compliment and gazed out toward the waiting targets. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You ready to take some shots?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked more eager by the minute and it was completely distractin’ him. He thought about how, if he had any sense, he’d come up with some excuse to head, maybe come back someday he could get his head on straight. But he doesn’t, so they didn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Ready.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go ahead and assume your stance, we’ll take a look from there… see just what we’re workin’ with here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She scoffed. “Why don’t you just cut to the chase and ask me to pose for you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He immediately clocked her teasing. “We ain’t there yet. Thought we were bein’ good, Elizabeth?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She rolled her eyes but apparently decided to humor him. She looked back at him and then widened her stance, holding the gun out straight in front of her, aimin’ at the target pinned in front of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked down and inspected her stance - her footing was close to perfect, arms really just needed a little correctin’ but otherwise, it was good. Great, in fact. Not at all as rigid as he thought she’d be, seein’ as how she started off so nervous around the thing at the beginning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s straighten your arms out a bit, like this.” He moved them softly so they were just the slightest bit bent. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded, focused on aiming at the target and he could hear her breathin’ gettin’ a little heavier. She must’ve been just as worked up as him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Finger goes here.” He gently moved her finger up, off the trigger. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“First rule: don’t put your finger on the trigger unless you’re ready to pull it. It’s that easy. Got it?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Got it.” She nodded, just itchin to shoot the thing at this point, now confident that she was less likely to accidentally hit something. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aight good. When you’re ready, let’s see what ya got.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He waited, watched her turn off the safety, aim, and eventually fire. She landed about two inches away from the bullseye. Best newbie shot he’d ever seen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Damn. This one of those tricks where you just humorin’ me and you already know how to shoot?” he teased, shakin’ his head in laughter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Beginner’s luck. Or maybe it’s just because I’ve got a good teacher.” she beamed, clicking the safety back on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s see you hold it again.” he instructed her, watching as she held it up, aimed and remembered not to put her finger on the trigger yet. Even her arms looked better this time. She was a fast learner, just as he suspected. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aight, good. Remember to exhale, next time, before you pull the trigger though - cuz you inhaled. Do that and it’ll make your hand shake, and you’ll be off-mark. Wanna try again?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded, followed all the steps and took her shot. She hit the bullseye dead on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He leant down from behind her, resistin’ the screaming urge in his body to pull her into his arms. Instead, he whispered straight into her ear like it was their little secret.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s my girl.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took it all in and he could tell she was focusin’ now, but all he could do was focus on her, like tunnel vision. Her hair, </span>
  <em>
    <span>that dress,</span>
  </em>
  <span> her smell. Eventually, he couldn’t stop himself from leanin’ down enough to wrap his arms around her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A fuckin’ natural,” he growled into her ear, pulling the gun from her grasp. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He barely looked down at the thing to click on the safety then blindly put it into its usual spot in the waistband of his jeans. He buried his face deep into the twists of her hair, inhaling her scent, completely fuckin’ drowning in it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She whispered back at him, smile invading every inch of her face, “You’re going to get us kicked out.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They looked over to see an old man walkin’ awkwardly out of the range and back into the front office, neither of them seemed to care all that much though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We leavin’ soon anyway. You already mastered it. Complete boss bitch.” he grunted, shiverin’ at the warm blush swimming across her skin. He couldn’t keep his hands off her and didn’t much care to, either.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” she asked, pushing back into him, just enough to make him moan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Every inch of her body was soft, perfect, curves. There wasn’t a part of her that he hadn’t been dreamin’ about kissing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So fuckin’ hot, it ain’t even right.” he mumbled, low and gruff, breathing into her neck, pinching the curve of her hip he’d been warmin’ up with his hands. She shrieked and playfully pushed his hand away to tease him back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Does this mean I get my own soon?” she asked, smirking up at him. He wanted to give her everything she could ever want, even if that meant letting her actually work for him like she’d been hinting at for weeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You want one?” he whispered into her ear, sucking at it gently. He looked down to see her nipples harden as she gulped. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mhmm.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He let it linger, maybe decided to let her sweat for a minute, let the apprehension build. He gave her a hard time at first, about wantin’ to work for him, due to the safety of it all. Couldn’t look like a giant pushover right away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aight, we’ll get you one then. Let’s go.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He leaned down, placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, before reaching down for her hand and pulling her with him back toward his car.</span>
</p><p><span>They got to the new restaurant they’d been talkin’ about </span><em><span>Seldon Standard</span></em><span> and settled in at their table. She ordered bourbon, and once again, he found himself having to reevaluate everything he thought he knew about her. How she could drink straight-up bourbon was beyond him, it went down smooth as whiskey for her too, which was impressive.</span> <span>A girl after his own heart. </span></p><p>
  <span>Small talk came naturally, conversation flowed easier than he ever imagined possible, and he realised he was in even deeper trouble than he thought. It never flowed like that with Rhea. Any conversation they had just eventually hit a lull until one of them mentioned something about their childhood. It always went back to that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With Elizabeth, he never knew where the conversation was gonna go. There was never a shortage of things he wanted to hear her talk about, could probably listen to her talk about her old lady couponin’ and shit for hours.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So are you ever going to tell me more about yourself?” she finally asked, surprising him yet again with her bluntness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>No more hiding it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>All cards on the table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Only problem was, he had no idea how to talk about it, no idea where to even start. Never had to before. Figured might be best if he just let it all spill out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At least he cleaned up the last few things of Rhea he had layin’ around, earlier in the day. The thought of Elizabeth comin’ over and immediately seein’ her old effects was an awkward moment he was set on never having.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So… I was married.” he told her, watching her entire body go rigid while she tried to play it cool. “It’s a long story I don’t want to get into </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but we were expectin’ a kid together, lost both of them. She never made it full term. That was a couple years ago now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was silent, just takin’ it in, like she did earlier in the day. Bein’ a complete sponge to everything he was willing to tell her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We were filing for divorce when she found out she was pregnant. Just weren’t right for each other, ya know?” he asked her, more rhetorically than anything else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded. That was something they both could relate to he figured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We grew up together, here in Detroit. I was good friends with her brother. We came up together. Just started as a fun thing then before I knew it, I was bein’ told to end it or put a ring on it and I thought maybe that could make it all better.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He loved that she was listenin’ so intently, wantin’ to learn it all just the way he did when it came to her. It was what made him actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>want</span>
  </em>
  <span> to share. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That caught him off guard and he scoffed a little. “Nah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We decided to stay together for the kid. Two parents that might not be </span>
  <em>
    <span>in love</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but there was love there. It was gonna work for us. And then one night, an ambulance ride and a hospital visit later, they were both gone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tellin’ her this stuff was startin’ to feel like some weird sort of therapy to him. They got that out and she ended up tellin’ him a little more about that dumbass ex of hers before they started talking more about the business, what she wanted to do movin’ forward. They even started talking about Jane a little bit, and Annie. It just felt good to finally </span>
  <em>
    <span>talk</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just don’t see myself at Fine and Frugal forever.” she sighed and he understood completely. He told her about how, before he started coming up in the business, he worked at his uncle’s store for about a week. How he almost lost his mind over the tediousness of it all and that was when he knew a 9-5 wasn’t for him. He just wasn’t cut out for it. Couldn’t imagine workin’ as a cashier made her feel all too different.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She laughed as Rio told her a few of his stories about comin’ up, some of the shit he landed himself in before he finally found his feet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When their food arrived, she went to </span>
  <em>
    <span>town. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She'd ordered some kind of margherita flatbread pizza that she clearly fuckin’ loved. He began wondering if maybe she’d never had a good meal before tonight. Actually, that kinda made sense.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Those Lean Cuisines not doin’ it for ya anymore, darlin’?” he teased, as she shot daggers back at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Haha. Very funny.” But then she took another bite and still couldn’t resist the urge to moan at the very taste of it. He fucking loved it, basically forgot about his own damn meal just takin’ it all in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The ride home from the restaurant felt truly agonizing, he could feel her eyein’ him like a piece of meat, and he can’t deny that it was the kind of pain he could get used to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All he wanted to do was get her home and tear into her, they were way overdue. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You keep lookin’ at me like that and we ain’t even gonna make it home.'' he broke the silence, tryin’ and failin’ to keep his eyes on the road. Instead, he caught a glimpse of the way her legs looked crossed gently in front of her, just itchin’ to be wrapped around him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Drive faster then.” she groaned. “Or better yet, just pull over.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything in him wanted to pull over at that moment. But he knew that once he got his hands on her, he wasn’t gonna be able to stop any time soon, so figured they just had a few more miles ‘til they’d made it back to his place anyhow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wanted to see her in his bed, tangled up in his sheets. Maybe in one of his shirts first thing in the morning. Wanted to get her in his shower with him, feel the warm water coming down, givin’ him an excuse to hold her tight, keep her close.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m goin’ as fast as I can, baby. How d’you think I feel? With you </span>
  <em>
    <span>mmm’in </span>
  </em>
  <span>and </span>
  <em>
    <span>ahh’in </span>
  </em>
  <span>every bite you took in that damn restaurant? I been hard the past two hours.” he mumbled the last part, shakin’ his head, taking a deep breath and trying to focus on the road. Maybe keep his eyes off her til they got back in one piece. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Let me help.” she whispered innocently in the otherwise silence of the car. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He jumped up a little at the feelin’ of her hand sliding over the bulge of his pants with a little pressure. His cock was so hard, just begging to be unzipped and pulled out. He couldn’t quite decide if her hands were actually helpin’ or just making everything about a hundred times worse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Either way, he drove faster.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the time he pulled into the parking garage under his building, he was thanking any god who might be listening that he didn’t come in his pants. Or crash and kill them both.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god!” she laughs, jolting forward and blindly grabbing out for the dash in front of her when he slams on the brakes to throw it into park. He felt himself anxiously side-eying her while she bent over, digging under the seat for her clutch she must’ve sat down by her feet earlier. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elizabeth, I ain’t playin’. Hurry up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulled her door open before she’d even unbuckled, grabbed her hands and pulled her out and into his arms against the car. She moaned at the guttural noise he made, tucked into her neck, like he’d been itching to continue since they left the range. He was mumbling obscenities, way past trying to hold back any longer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elizabeth, what I just say?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked back toward the passenger’s seat anxiously. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I dropped my phone on the floor, I just gotta find it first…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His hands settled on the sides of her thighs, sneakin’ up under the hem of her dress and itching to lift her up and fuck her there. Instead, he just groaned in frustration, leaning into her and pinning her gently against the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yea, you ain’t gonna be needin’ that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ruby’s got Jane tonight.” she sighed and he looked down at her, raising an eyebrow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A’ight, hold on.” He held his hand in front of her softly like he was scared she’d be gone if he looked away, then ducked into the front seat, looking for the phone he already regretted getting her. Luckily he found it under the seat in no time and slid it into his back pocket. “All set?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, thank y—.” she laughed, but was cut off immediately when he scooped her up too easily and tossed her up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Rio!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nah. You done pokin’ around. Let’s go.” he chuckled, shaking his head down at her. She had him so worked up he couldn’t even think. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My dress!” She screeched, reachin’ around trying to make sure her ass was covered and not hanging out for the whole world to see.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His hand landed down on her ass in response and she gasped as it settled in, permanently caressing back and forth across it while he walked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“God damn, look at you.” he groaned, looking over at it to make sure that it was in fact still covered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You gonna be good if I put you down?” he laughed, as they felt the elevator start to move up toward the top. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Probably not.” she admitted and gasped as his hand landed back down on the other cheek. He set her down after that anyway so she wouldn’t get dizzy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yea, that’s kinda what I thought, knowin’ you.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her into him, the same way he did the night before at her place. His hands found a permanent home at the dip of her hips, settling in like they were made for each other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think maybe tonight we should practice your stance more. Make sure you’re comfortable gettin’ into position.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She raised an eyebrow and he grinned, even Rio wasn’t sure if he was still talking about shooting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When the elevator dinged and the doors opened, it was on. He walked so fast toward his door it felt like she was nearly jogging to keep up with his strides.They got inside easily and he picked her back up, throwing her over his shoulder again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is it. Hope you enjoyed your tour.” There was no tour at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He unceremoniously dropped her down onto his bed and slowly crawled up over her, holding himself up just enough to not crush her with his bodyweight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She giggled. “I did. Four out of five stars.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He scoffed and rolled his eyes at her. “That’s it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was grinning like crazy. “Had to dock you a star because it took too long.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ohhh, you got jokes now, huh? Ok.” he laughed, but the smile slowly faded from his face. It was quickly replaced with something more serious, more adoring. He couldn’t believe someone like her was laying in his bed with him. Couldn’t believe she was givin’ him the time of day at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He moved her hair gently out of her face and leaned in to place a soft, more sensual, kiss on her lips. When he pulled back, all traces of their previous jokes were gone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t think I told you how gorgeous you look tonight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He leaned back down slowly, placed another soft kiss on one side of her neck, and then the other. She gasped with every kiss, eliciting a groan from him, the heat of her body drowning him in waves. Elizabeth was heaving underneath him and Rio wasn’t much better off, felt himself shaking at her touch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She finally answered him, “You did.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah? I also tell you how fuckin’ hot it was watchin’ you handle a .22 like that? On your first time out? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jesus Christ</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” he groaned, losing himself in the internal struggle, trying to decide whether to make love to her first or absolutely rail her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mhmm.” she breathed heavily, he couldn’t do anything but shake his head in disbelief. He reached down to unzip her boots, pull them off and drop them down onto the floor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her bare legs were already hooked behind his back, pulling him back in and up toward her center. “I need you.” she whined.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We got time.” he promised, slowly makin’ his way up her legs with his hands. He took no liberties, just wanted to feel every inch of her beneath his fingertips. His mind couldn’t comprehend how soft she was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was pawing at him needily, hands using every trick in the book to try and pull him up toward her quicker, so he pinned them above her head, revelled in the way she gasped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He leaned back, just enough to unbutton his shirt with one hand, while holding hers down with the other. He clumsily pulled it off, let it fall and join her boots on the floor behind him. Her bare feet found his hips as she unsuccessfully tried to push his pants down for him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Need help?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She grinned. “Yes please.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His pants and boxers came down in one swoop leavin’ him naked, and rock fucking hard, on top of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He began to stroke himself, more out of habit more than anything. Just needed to relieve the pressure, to buy a few more minutes before he made a complete dumbass of himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her dress was bunched up and tangled around her waist, leaving just the tiny scrap of fabric from her thong in his way of her cunt. He snapped it off, with ease, ripping it into two tinier pieces and dropping the wrangled fabric somewhere down onto his floor with the other discarded articles of clothing.</span>
</p><p><span>He let her pull her hands out of his grasp, and she did just as he thought. Her hand moved quick as lightning down between her legs as he held her thighs open wide beneath him.</span> <span>She pulled her slick hand back up and used the moisture to surround his cock and start jerking him off. </span></p><p>
  <span>He tried brushin’ her hand away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elizabeth, I’m gonna come all over you in about ten seconds if you keep doing that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The nonchalant shrug he received in response did it for him. It did all the fuckin’ things. “Maybe I want you to come all over me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A deep growl escaped him and he jolted hard, looking down to see his white cum painting a perfect picture on the ivory skin of her thighs and bare cunt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>How fuckin’ embarrassing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Couldn’t believe he blew his load before getting inside her, before even getting her naked at the very least. Now he felt himself strugglin’ to catch his breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It all changed when she swiped a finger through the cum splattered onto her thigh and sucked it directly into her mouth, savoring it like the last bit of icing on a cake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I knew you’d taste good.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If he could’ve blown another load right then, he would have.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck, Elizabeth.” he hummed, reaching up to help her pull her dress off and toss it down off the side of the bed. The only thing she was left wearin’ was a light pink bra which was officially his new favorite color. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a moment of indecisiveness, which he caught her watching in keen interest, he decided to yank the cups of her bra down just enough to free her tits. Didn’t exactly feel like could be bothered to try and take it off, not with the way his hands were still shakin’. She truly made him feel like an addict, jonesing for his next fix. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>All he could think about was the intense need to bury his face in her cunt and lick her clean. Just the thought had him rock hard again, even before getting his first taste. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Between her own arousal and his cum splattered all over her, she was drenched and he wanted to lick every single drop of it up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He finally made the descent down onto her cunt, licking it all up, tasting everything on his way to her clit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he pulled it between his lips and sucked, she wailed in pleasure. Her body thrashing below him. If this was her now, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>needed</span>
  </em>
  <span> to bury himself inside her soon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He used his fingers to spread her cunt open and fucked into her with his tongue, setting a pace that made her tremble. He would never be able to get enough. Pink was his new favorite color and she was his new flavor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her legs flailed as she came hard for him, and he realised then, that he’d never needed anything as badly as he needed to get inside her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You good?” he drawled up at her, slowly kissing a path up her body on his way to her lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded. Her chest still rising and falling at a frantic pace, she already looked completely wrecked, moving her hips up toward him trying to beckon him inside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When their lips connected he melted at the feeling of her in his arms, beneath his lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulled back just enough to anchor himself above her and slowly push his cock inside her. They both watched as she eventually took every last inch of him like a goddamn champ.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once he was buried to the hilt and she was completely full of him, her jaw dropped open and her head hit the pillow behind her softly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He leaned down to bury his face between her breasts, still not pulling back to start moving, just letting her slowly get accustomed to his size inside her, his bodyweight above her. He groaned down into her breasts as he licked, and sucked, and kissed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once he was satisfied by the patch of red he’d created across the top of her chest, he looked up and locked eyes with her; waited for the green light. She nodded again and he winked. She blushed, breaking out into that smirk he loved, the one with her plump bottom lip pulled in between her teeth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He drew nearly all the way out, shuddering at the feeling of her cunt grasping at his cock, trying to pull him back inside. He obliged, pushing back into her at a snail’s pace, taking his time and watching her react to being slowly stuffed, filled to the brim.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He motioned down toward her bra with his chin and she reached around to snap it off and toss it. He’d never seen a more perfect pair of tits in his entire life. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took everything in him to resist his urge to fixate, only briefly getting distracted by the way they bounced at every snap of his hips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“More,” she groaned up at him and he nodded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He leaned down closer to her, entwined her fingers with his and began pounding into her with everything he had, just like she wanted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She started whimpering and he knew she was going to come any second. It felt like — like —“Ahh!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She screamed and he pulled back just in time to see her orgasm wash over her, her whole body pink and misty beneath him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He slammed back inside her, even harder than before. and fucked her through the rest of her orgasm, a rush passing through him when he couldn’t wait anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything in him tensed and he grunted, instinctively pushing in one last time just so they could both feel his warm cum fill her cunt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the time they’d finally finished fucking, at least for the moment, the sun peaked up into the orange sky.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He jumped up to get a washcloth, did a light cleanup, promising to drag her into the shower after a nap. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They woke up again later and the sky was orange, but from the other direction. They’d somehow slept the entire day away in each other’s arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elizabeth texted Ruby, who agreed to keep Jane one more night, and checked in on her sister. They chose not to overcomplicate things right away, just taking a hot shower and ordering Chinese takeaway. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was after their next round she finally asked for the rest of his story. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this what you want?” Elizabeth asked him, wrapping herself up around his lean torso in a little cocoon and breaking the silence. Nothing about anything that’d happened between them felt like simply hooking up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t help himself, that niggling voice in his head told him it might be too early to share just the way he was feeling but he didn’t care. Thinking back, he didn’t know when he turned into the guy that couldn’t go 24 hours without seeing someone but he did and. to be honest, he wasn’t mad about it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“With you, and with Jane...” he thought carefully about his words. “I feel like me again, I feel more myself than I’ve felt in </span>
  <em>
    <span>years</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He chuckled when her eyebrows pinched together inquisitively, where he could practically see her entire train of thought play out across her face. He reached down to brush the stray piece of hair off her forehead and she let him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When I lost them, everything inside of me broke. I mean my whole damn world shattered.” He confessed eventually. It just felt right. The conversation was soft and intimate and... </span>
  <em>
    <span>hard</span>
  </em>
  <span> - but there was no one else he wanted it to have it with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We were getting divorced. We had decided that. There was no attraction there anymore, not sure there ever really was, to be honest. It was more about convenience. We grew up together, like I said.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elizabeth nodded, a clear understanding of that part of their history etched across her face. She got it as much as she could, that much was evident to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just as we were wrappin’ things up, signin’ papers and shit, we found out she was pregnant.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was tracing the necklace that laid across his chest while he talked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But that baby was </span>
  <em>
    <span>mine</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He was my flesh, my blood. I was excited. Leaned into it, ya know?” They both could relate. Kids weren’t always in your plans but they became them.</span>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>And then he was…” he stiffened. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Didn’t think he was ever gonna be able to say that he was gone. It felt too concrete, too permanent. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Too real</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When they told me he didn’t make it, Elizabeth, I thought hearin’ that was the hardest thing that would ever happen to me.” He shook his head in disbelief, that day seeming so long ago but so fresh all at the same time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But it wasn’t. The hardest thing that’s ever happened has been livin’ every day since. Without a piece of me. Going on with my life like nothin’ happened. Like they ain’t supposed to be here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked back down at the sound of her snifflin’. She was openly weeping in his arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Since I lost him, it’s been like I lost my breath and I’ve been strugglin’ to catch it ever since.” He saw her try to blink away tears that were escaping down her cheeks and all he wanted to do was make them go away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just find myself wonderin’ sometimes what he’d look like, who he’d be.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She swallowed, trying to find the right words. Trying to say enough but not too little all at the same time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was… Was your family there for you? Are you close to them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could tell she was genuinely curious about not only him but his grief and his past. Her body was wrapped somehow closer around his, her face tucked into his chest and her arms encasing him like he was custom built for her body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yea, I mean they were there for me, did everything they could. Brought over the food, helped with the planning and all the fallout.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took comfort in that, he could tell. He did too. The relief she felt for him eased his own pain, somehow she helped him shoulder some of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Asked how was I doin’ all the time.” He always found himself hatin’ that question most of all. Nothin’ felt more disingenuous. Felt like all it meant to ask was just if he was over it yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But with you and Jane...I can breathe again. I don’t feel like I’m fallin’ all the time. All I feel is relief. I look at you two and can finally see a future.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked down to see the way she had her fingers entwined with his, the image of it making his heart clench. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All he wanted to do was hold her hand every day for the rest of his life. Never felt more sure of anything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was gonna be it for him.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for staying with me!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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